Public Health Implications of Google Searches for Sunscreen, Sunburn, Skin Cancer, and Melanoma in the United States

Abstract

Purpose: Google Trends (GT) offers insights into public interests and behaviors and holds potential for guiding public health campaigns. We evaluated trends in US searches for sunscreen, sunburn, skin cancer, and melanoma and their relationships with melanoma outcomes.

Analysis of Internet searches using Google Trends to measure interest in sun protection and skin cancer in selected South‐East Asian populations

“…The worldwide search interest in “sunscreen” has been generally increasing since 2008 with a waning trend for the search term “tanning bed.” In the United States of America, Google Trends® found that melanoma incidence was positively associated with searches for “sunscreen” and “sunburn” and negatively associated with “skin cancer” searches. Mortality was negatively associated with searches for “sunscreen.” Although there was an increase in searches for “sunscreen” and “sunburn” over time, there were less searches for “melanoma” and “skin cancer.” Researchers also found that the American public developed increasing interest in the search term “Mohs surgery” since 2004, in tandem with the positive trends reported for the terms “basal cell carcinoma” and “squamous cell carcinoma,” mirroring the increasing number of such procedures performed in the United States …”

“…Although there was an increase in searches for "sunscreen" and "sunburn" over time, there were less searches for "melanoma" and "skin cancer." 13 Researchers also found that the American public developed increasing interest in the search term "Mohs surgery" since 2004, in tandem with the positive trends reported for the terms "basal cell carcinoma" and "squamous cell carcinoma," mirroring the increasing number of such procedures performed in the United States. 11 Using data obtained from Google Trends®, we aimed to examine the geographic and temporal trends in Internet search interest for terms related to sun protection and skin cancers in three neighboring countries in South-East Asia, namely Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.…”

“…Google Trends® is a free tool provided by Google Inc that is easily accessible to the public to analyze search volumes according to user‐defined search terms with data on geographical and temporal trends. In Dermatology, these trends have been analyzed to assess public interest in skin diseases, dermatitis, esthetic plastic surgery, skin cancer, Mohs micrographic surgery, sunscreen, tanning, and hidradenitis suppurativa …”

“…In Dermatology, these trends have been analyzed to assess public interest in skin diseases, dermatitis, esthetic plastic surgery, skin cancer, Mohs micrographic surgery, sunscreen, tanning, and hidradenitis suppurativa. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The worldwide search interest in "sunscreen" has been generally increasing since 2008 with a waning trend for the search term "tanning bed." 15 In the United States of America, Google Trends® found that melanoma incidence was positively associated with searches for "sunscreen" and "sunburn" and negatively associated with "skin cancer" searches.…”

Google Medical Update: Why Is the Search Engine Decreasing Visibility of Health and Medical Information Websites?

“…Some researchers studied mental health [53] and depression [54] queries. Other topics studied using GT data are skin cancer [55], sunscreen use [56], sunburn [57], seasonality of bruxism [58], multiple sclerosis [59], cancer [60], stroke [61], HIV [62], lupus [63], norovirus [64], sepsis [65], pertussis [66], epistaxis [67], plague [68], rheumatoid arthritis [69], and prostate cancer [70]. In terms of general population behavior, research was done using GT data on pharmaceutical data [71], vaccinations [72], movement disorders [73], digital epidemiology [74], kidney stone surgery [75], foot and ankle pain [76], knee injuries [77], osteoarthritis [78], seasonality of cellulitis [79], tracking influenza epidemics using climate data [80], palliative care [81], cosmetic body procedures [82], and anesthesia [83].…”