Search Popularity of Common Gastrointestinal Symptoms; an Infodemiological Study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Functional disorders of the gastrointestinal system are very common in the general population. In the digital era, the search for information about their disorders is very popular, especially in the young population. The current study aimed to evaluate the Google search statistics of common gastrointestinal symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS:This infodemiological study was performed using Google Trends data; which simply gives the search popularity of a given search term according to the given period and region.RESULTS: Related search volumes for the terms constipation and diarrhea showed seasonal variations. Related search volume for diarrhea was detected to be higher in the summertime. Whereas, other gastrointestinal symptoms showed no seasonal variations. CONCLUSION: Seasonal viral gastroenteritis outbreaks show a correlation with the Google Trends data. Related search volumes can be an alternative way to show the seasonality of other disorders.