Public Interest in Knee Replacement Fell during the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Google Trends Analysis

Landy, David C.; Chalmers, Brian P.; Utset-Ward, Thomas J; Ast, Michael P.

doi:10.1007/s11420-020-09794-0

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Several surveys and online trend analysis reported decreased interest of patients in hip and knee replacement surgeries. 16,17 While at one end, patients may opt to precautionarily delay elective surgeries as much as they can and on the other, ones with end stage hip or knee arthritis who continue to suffer with pain and disabilities needing arthroplasty want to get operated as early as possible. Ensuring safety of both patients and staff is paramount and delivering optimal results with minimum complications is a challenging task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on arthroplasty services and early experience after resuming surgeries at a ‘non Covid’ center

Khanna

Nashikkar

Mahajan

et al. 2021

Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Trauma

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Background: The aim of this study is to assess the impact of Covid-19 crisis on hip and knee joint replacement surgeries at a high volume tertiary care hospital in the Indian National Capital Region and to evaluate the early experience of resumption of arthroplasty services. Methods: Institutional records of the arthroplasty cases, operated between 1st March to 31 August of 2019 (Group A, pre-Covid) and 2020 (Group B, pandemic year) were compared retrospectively over numerous parameters including the complications within six weeks of surgery. Results: There was a significant drop (by 82.53 %) in the total number of arthroplasty surgeries in Group B (62) as compared with Group A (355). Average number of arthroplasties per month were 59.17 ± 12.93 and 10.67 ± 13.29 in Group A and Group B respectively (p < 0.001). There was a significant increase in postoperative complication rate 7/355 (1.97 %) in Group A vs 7/62 (11.29 %) in Group B during pandemic (p < 0.002), along with a higher 30-days mortality rate 2/355 (3.22 %) vs 2/62 (0.56 %). Pandemic year also saw an increased readmission rate (4.83 %) vs (0.56 %) and postoperative ICU transfer rate (1.61 %) vs (0.56 %) in comparison with pre-Covid year. Conclusion: In the pandemic, arthroplasty services got severely affected at our center. With nearly six fold increase in complication rates, higher 30-days mortality and increased readmission rates, caution is advised in resuming arthroplasty surgeries without robust evaluation of cases. Whether undetected Covid-19 infection or poor pre-existing disease control due to lockdown can be linked to these results is a matter of further research with larger multicenter studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on arthroplasty services and early experience after resuming surgeries at a ‘non Covid’ center

Khanna

Nashikkar

Mahajan

et al. 2021

Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Trauma

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“…The utilization of the internet for the access to health-care information has become an increasingly important source of health-related information for consumers which has allowed individuals to obtain medical information rapidly, conveniently, and privately [14,15]. With the growth in the use of the internet as a primary source for the acquisition and dissemination of health information, internet search tools such as Google Trends have emerged as important sources of real-time information of online search patterns and can be useful in determining patient's interest in elective hand surgery over time [16][17][18]. The objective of this study is to use Google Trends to track online interest in elective hand surgery in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilizing Google Trends to Track Online Interest in Elective Hand Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mohty¹,

Lashkari²,

Gittings³

et al. 2021

Cureus

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IntroductionElective hand surgery encompasses a large volume of orthopaedic cases annually. Carpal tunnel syndrome, ganglion cysts, and trigger digits are some of the most common pathologies treated by hand surgeons. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, patient's interest in elective hand surgery for these conditions is uncertain. The objective of this study is to use Google Trends to track online interest in elective hand surgery in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsOnline search trends regarding elective orthopaedic hand surgery were obtained via Google Trends from November 2019 to November 2020. Three common hand pathologies in lay terms ("carpal tunnel," "'ganglion cyst' + 'wrist cyst,'" and "trigger finger") and three hand surgery-specific keywords ("hand surgery," "carpal tunnel surgery," and "trigger finger surgery") were used as search terms. The search volume index (SVI) graphs for the United States for both sets of search terms were then generated from the Google Trends data and compared to the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases per day as reported by the CDC. A separate SVI graph was then created for the search term "coronavirus" and was compared against both sets of search terms as above. ResultsSearch trends for all elective hand pathologies and surgery-specific keywords remained constant from November 2019 to the beginning of March 2020 and then decreased significantly within a one-month period following the peak in COVID-19 cases the week of March 15, 2020. Search trends for these keywords increased to baseline levels over the next few months. The search trend for "coronavirus" demonstrated a small search volume index peak of 13 during January 2020 followed by the maximum peak of 100 during the week of March 15, 2020, corresponding to the decrease in search trends of elective hand surgery at that time. ConclusionsOnline interest in elective hand surgery remained constant prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, there was a marked decrease in search trends of elective hand surgery with the rise in daily reported COVID-19 cases, suggesting that patient's interest in elective hand surgery decreased with the onset of the pandemic.

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“…Previous studies have demonstrated the medical relevance of Google Trends analytics in the spread of influenza in the U.S.-similar to our findings, changes in public interest were evident prior to increasing case numbers and hospitalizations [ 16 , 17 ]. Likewise, Landy et al were able to describe a decline in public interest in knee replacements in the U.S. using Google Trends during the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections [ 12 ]. However, in this study it remained unclear whether this decrease reflected in changes in patient behavior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Public interest was investigated using Google Trend analysis as previously described [ 12 ]. In short, daily relative search frequencies for knee pain, knee osteoarthritis and knee replacement were assessed for the entire year 2020 in Germany and the UK.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Interest in Knee Pain and Knee Replacement during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Western Europe

Kienzle

Biedermann

Babeyko

et al. 2021

JCM

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Due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, a large number of elective knee replacement procedures had to be postponed in both early and late 2020 in most western countries including Germany and the UK. It is unknown how public interest and demand for total knee arthroplasties was affected. Public interest in knee pain, knee osteoarthritis and knee arthroplasty in Germany and the UK was investigated using Google Trend Analysis. In addition, we monitored for changes in patient composition in our outpatient department. As of early March in Germany and of late March in the UK, until the lockdown measures, a 50 to 60% decrease in relative search frequency was observed in all categories investigated compared to the beginning of the year. While public interest for knee pain rapidly recovered, decreased interest for knee osteoarthritis and replacement lasted until the easing of measures. Shortly prior to and during the first lockdown mean search frequency for knee replacement was significantly decreased from 39.7% and 36.6 to 26.9% in Germany and from 47.7% and 50.9 to 23.7% in the UK (Germany: p = 0.022 prior to lockdown, p < 0.001 during lockdown; UK: p < 0.0001 prior to and during lockdown). In contrast, mean search frequencies did not differ significantly from each other for any of the investigated time frames during the second half of 2020 in both countries. Similarly, during the first lockdown, the proportion of patients presenting themselves to receive primary knee arthroplasty compared to patients that had already undergone knee replacement declined markedly from 64.7% to 46.9%. In contrast, patient composition changed only marginally during the lockdown measures in late 2020 in both Germany and the UK. We observed a high level of public interest in knee arthroplasty despite the ongoing pandemic. The absence of a lasting decline in interest in primary knee arthroplasty suggests that sufficient symptom reduction cannot be achieved without surgical care for a substantial number of patients.

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Public Interest in Knee Replacement Fell during the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Google Trends Analysis

Cited by 11 publications

References 23 publications

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on arthroplasty services and early experience after resuming surgeries at a ‘non Covid’ center

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on arthroplasty services and early experience after resuming surgeries at a ‘non Covid’ center

Utilizing Google Trends to Track Online Interest in Elective Hand Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Public Interest in Knee Pain and Knee Replacement during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Western Europe

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