OK Computer? A Time Analysis of Google Searches About Symptoms

Petrie, Keith J.; MacKrill, Kate; Silvester, Connor; Gamble, Greg; Dalbeth, Nicola; Pennebaker, James W.

doi:10.32872/cpe.v1i2.32774

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In future studies, our findings should be examined in a more heterogeneous, representative sample of the general population. Studies including ecological momentary assessment (EMA) could provide more information about the influence and interaction of trait variables (e.g., media literacy) and state variables (e.g., state anxiety) and have a higher external validity (e.g., collecting data in naturalistic settings; Petrie et al, 2019). The medical app also showed potential for improvement; for example, hyperventilation was identified as a possible cause in only about one third of the participants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Up to 80% of Internet users inform themselves online about health-related topics (Fox & Fallows, 2003), often searching for physical symptoms, symptom causes, or medical diagnoses (Cocco et al, 2018; Jadhav et al, 2014; Petrie, MacKrill, Silvester, Dalbeth, & Pennebaker, 2019; White & Horvitz, 2009a, 2013). This frequent health-related Internet use can be explained by the numerous advantages, such as convenient, unlimited access; anonymity; and a wide variety of information (Powell, Inglis, Ronnie, & Large, 2011).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Do Dr. Google and Health Apps Have (Comparable) Side Effects? An Experimental Study

Jungmann

Brand

Kolb

et al. 2020

Clinical Psychological Science

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Googling and using apps for health-related information are highly prevalent worldwide. So far, little is known about the emotional, body-related, and behavioral effects of using both Google and health-related apps. In our experimental study, bodily symptoms were first provoked by a standardized hyperventilation test. A total of 147 participants (96.6% students) were then randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Googling for the causes of the currently experienced bodily symptoms, using a medical app to diagnose the experienced symptoms, and a waiting control condition. Health-related Internet use for symptoms led to stronger negative affect, increased health anxiety, and increased need to consult a physician compared with the control condition. Googling and using the medical app showed comparable adverse emotional and behavioral effects. The findings are in line with current models of cyberchondria in which health-related Internet use represents an essential factor in maintaining and amplifying emotional distress.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Dr. Google and Health Apps Have (Comparable) Side Effects? An Experimental Study

Jungmann

Brand

Kolb

et al. 2020

Clinical Psychological Science

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“…On the other hand, “proactive searches” may be performed by those who have already identified some signs of the disease in their body. They may be interested - in a personal way - in early symptoms when using “Doctor Google” to self-diagnosis [27-28]. Important to stress that leprosy campaigns are primarily aimed to those worried about symptoms, perhaps indicating the need for immediate technical assessment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We selected "HANSENÍASE" (with acute accent) due to the highest search volume in the period, compared to the others. The term "HANSENÍASE SINTOMAS" (leprosy symptoms) was tracked to estimate lay public interest concerning "self-diagnosis", as referred by literature [27][28]. We used "Brazil" as country and category "Health" to produce a 5 years' time series (08/26/2018 to 08/20/2023) with 261 weeks.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leprosy campaigns in Brazil: analysis of "Janeiro Roxo" impact using Google Trends.

VASCONCELLOS-SILVA,

DE SOUSA

2023

Preprint

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“Janeiro Roxo” (Purple January) is a Brazilian campaign to raise awareness about leprosy and its early symptoms. The negative influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on institutional campaigns was especially relevant for the control of leprosy, if considered its status of neglected disease by the media. Google Trends (GT) is a free tool that tracks accesses to given terms on Google. Using GT we studied (i) impact of “Janeiro Roxo” in public interest on leprosy in the last 5 years; (ii) public interest during and after COVID-19 pandemic; (iii) patterns of public interest in self-identification of leprosy signs. Methods: GT tracking follows the popularity of topics in time range in “Relative Search Volume” (RSV) – proxies of public interest in a particular subject on a scale from 0 to 100. We selected “HANSENÍASE” (HAN) and “HANSENÍASE SINTOMAS” (leprosy symptoms) (H.SIN) to estimate public interest in leprosy and “self-diagnosis” during 261 weeks (August 2018 to 2023). Polynomial trend lines estimate trends over the period. Weekly RSV, monthly and annual means were compared using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results: In 261 weeks: higher RSV to “HANSENÍASE” (HAN) compared to “HANSENÍASE SINTOMAS” (H.SIN); highest Monthly Means (MM) in January months (2019 to 2023) for both HAN and H.SIN. Pandemic effect in “Janeiro Roxo”: decrease in January MM 2021 compared to 2020 (24% to HAN, 25% to H.SIN). Both HAN/H.SIN reached pre-pandemic levels in January 2022/2023. Breakpoints (points of abrupt change which influences trend lines) in the 26th week (February 2019); in the 55th and 213th week (September 2019 and 2022). Trend line (HAN): upward curve between 33rd-45th week (April to June 2019); pandemic downward trend between 120th-136th week (December 2020 to March 2021); upward trend curve between 220th-240th week (November 2022 to March 2023). Conclusion: “Janeiro Roxo” and in-person activities, among other media stimuli, have a relevant impact in terms of public interest in leprosy, even after their interruption due to pandemic. Considering their impacts on national searches, regional campaigns should be considered very successful. RSV to HAN may be due to “reactive searches” motivated by transient stimuli from campaigns, in an ephemeral and impersonal way. “Proactive searches” to H.SIN may be associated to those interested - in a personal way - in early symptoms and self-diagnosis. Internet-based campaign evaluation programs could be useful in integrating vulnerable regions and exposing their needs for assistance services.

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“…The findings from this study have implications for future research. Health‐related Internet use has been shown to be associated with greater health anxiety (McMullan, Berle, Arnáez, & Starcevic, 2019; Petrie et al ., 2019) as has using a medical app to diagnose symptoms (Jungmann, Brand, Kolb, & Witthöft, 2020). Previous research has shown a close relationship between anxiety and symptom reporting (Howren & Suls, 2011; Petrie, Moss‐Morris, Grey, & Shaw, 2004; Watson & Pennebaker, 1989); however, the extent to which symptom‐tracking apps specifically increase health anxiety is unknown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of symptom‐tracking apps on symptom reporting

MacKrill

Groom

Petrie

2020

British J Health Psychol

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Objective. The use of health apps is increasing worldwide, with a common feature being daily symptom tracking. However, symptom tracking has been shown to increase symptom reporting. This study investigated whether using a menstrual-monitoring app with a symptom-tracking feature increases symptom reporting compared to an app without this feature or no app at all. Design. Experimental study. Methods. Ninety-one participants were randomly allocated to use either a menstrualmonitoring app with a symptom tracker or a simple calendar app, or to a no app control group. The number of period-related symptoms as well as general symptom reporting was assessed at baseline prior to group allocation and then 1 and 4 months later. The change in the proportion of people classified as high symptom reporters was also examined. Results. We found that the symptom-tracking app group reported significantly more period-related symptoms at 4 months than the calendar app group (mean difference = 1.16 symptoms, p = .010). At the 4-month time point, significantly more participants in the symptom-tracking group were now classified as high period symptom reporters (baseline 50%, 4 months 70%, p = .031), while the other two groups did not change from baseline. There were no differences in general symptom reporting across the three groups. Conclusion. A period-monitoring app with a symptom tracker may increase the reporting of period symptoms. This effect does not appear to generalize to broader symptom reporting. Further research is needed to support these findings and to examine the impact of symptom-tracking apps on daily functioning and health anxiety. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? The experience of transient symptoms is common in day-today life. These symptoms often do not have an underlying cause or are a sign of illness. Actively tracking symptoms has been shown to result in greater symptom reporting, symptom severity, and slower recovery from injury. The use of health apps is increasing, with a common feature being symptom tracking. Menstrualmonitoring apps, in particular, frequently require users to track symptoms.

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OK Computer? A Time Analysis of Google Searches About Symptoms

Cited by 5 publications

References 24 publications

Do Dr. Google and Health Apps Have (Comparable) Side Effects? An Experimental Study

Do Dr. Google and Health Apps Have (Comparable) Side Effects? An Experimental Study

Leprosy campaigns in Brazil: analysis of "Janeiro Roxo" impact using Google Trends.

The effect of symptom‐tracking apps on symptom reporting

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