Analysis of dermatologic conditions in Turkey and Italy by using Google Trends analysis in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Many areas of life including patterns of dermatological diseases that patients attend to the hospital were tremendously affected by implementing stay‐at‐home orders during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We aimed to identify the dermatologic interest of the public during the COVID‐19 pandemic by using Google Trends. The terms “acne”, “hair loss”, “eczema”, “genital warts”, “molluscum contagiosum”, “botox”, “skin cancer”, and “sunscreen” were analyzed on April 1, May 1, June1, 2020, and the corresponding period of the previous year in Turkey and Italy by using Google Trends. The searching spectrum was between March 31, 2019 and June 1, 2020. The relative change of search term “acne” was +10, +29, +13/−1, +17,+33, “hair loss” was +14, +40, +16/+3, +16, +15, and “eczema” was +2, +34, −4/ +3, +25, +18, on the other hand, the relative change of the “genital warts” was −15, −48, +10/−44, −30, +18 and “molluscum contagiosum” was −12, −2, −4/−4, −1, −12 while “botox” was, −10, −43, −8/−41, −31, +4, “skin cancer” was −27, −38, −38/−22,+33, −7 and sunscreen was −6, −25, −71/−13, 0, −45 in Turkey/Italy on April 1, May 1, and June 1, 2020, respectively. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the number of COVID‐19 cases in Turkey and search terms of the general dermatology group during the COVID‐19 pandemic (P < 0.05). The search terms including “acne”, “eczema”, “hair loss” appears to be increasing while “molluscum contagiosum”, “genital warts” “botox”, “skin cancer”, and “sunscreen” decreasing in the era of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Understanding the trends and impacts of dermatologic diseases on public perceptions during the COVID‐19 pandemic will allow for better preparation of dermatologists.