Public Health Awareness Campaigns in Otolaryngology: Are We Making an Impact?

Abstract

Objective To determine if public awareness campaigns in Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery are influencing public interest, as measured by internet searches. Study Design Database Query. Setting Internet. Methods Six awareness campaigns were analyzed over 5 years (2016–2020). Each campaign was assigned one or more relevant Google search terms/topics. Weekly data on United States internet search queries for these topics/terms were collected from Google Trends. “Campaign” dates were defined as 1 week before and 2 weeks after any awareness “day” or “week,” and 2 weeks prior and 2 weeks after any awareness “month.” “Non-campaign” weeks were considered any data outside the “campaign” window. A Welch’s unpaired t-test was used to determine statistically significant differences between “campaign” dates and “non-campaign” dates. Results Of the awareness campaigns studied, only “Kids ENT Health Month” (search topic “adenoidectomy,” P = < .001) and “Cochlear Implant Day” (search topic “cochlear implant,” P = .004615) demonstrated a significant increase in internet search activity during the time frame of interest between 2016 and 2020. Although there were some individual years with significant increases for select search terms/topics corresponding to their campaign of interest, none of the campaigns showed increases over the 5-year period studied. Conclusion Public health advocacy and outreach has long been recognized as an important component of optimizing otolaryngologic care. However, such efforts to increase public awareness may have varying or even minimal impact. Though an imperfect tool, data from Google Trends suggests that with few exceptions, awareness campaigns in otolaryngology do not necessarily translate to increased internet searches.