Abstract
PurposeTemporal trends of disease-specific internet searches may provide novel insights into seasonal dynamics of disease burden and, by extension, disease pathophysiology. The aim of this study was to define the temporal trends in rhinosinusitis-specific internet searches.MethodsThis was a cross sectional analysis of search volume for predefined search terms. Google trends was used to explore the volume of searches for five specific search terms related to rhinosinusitis: nose, mucus, sinus, sinusitis, chronic sinusitis, which were entered into Google web search between 2004 and 2019. Results were analyzed within search “context” which included temporally associated related searches. Relative search volume (RSV) was analyzed for English and non-English speaking countries from the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Analysis of seasonality was performed using the cosinor model.ResultsThe five specific search terms were most related to rhinosinusitis-related search contexts, indicating that they were appropriately reflective of internet queries by patients for rhinosinusitis. The RSV for rhinosinusitis-related terms and more general search terms increased with each passing year indicating constant interest in rhinosinusitis. Cosinor time series analysis revealed inquiry peaks in winter months for all five specific rhinosinusitis-related search terms independent from the hemisphere.ConclusionOver a 15-year period, Google searches with rhinosinusitis-specific search terms consistently peaked during the winter around the world. These findings indirectly support the model of viral infection or exposure as the predominant cause of acute rhinosinusitis and acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis.
Highlights
Previous research has shown that patients seek out information about health problems that they are experiencing on the internet [1]
Since we wanted to focus our analyses on rhinosinusitisrelated search terms, we first sought to explore seasonal variations in inquiries into rhinosinusitis symptoms-related search terms
Graphical visualization of other rhinosinusitis symptoms related-search terms revealed no relevant seasonal variations (Fig. 1), which suggested that some other search terms might be more appropriate to cover the full spectrum of rhinosinusitis-related symptomatology
Summary
Previous research has shown that patients seek out information about health problems that they are experiencing on the internet [1]. The peaks in online interest for pharyngitis, epistaxis, or laryngitis correspond with annual peak incidence rates in various countries worldwide [2,3,4]. This association between medical internet usage by the lay public and active health problems they are experiencing has been used to study epidemiologic phenomenon, such as estimates of real-world influenza activity or seasonal trends in public interest for various symptoms [5,6,7,8].
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