Abstract
BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally, and timely health care seeking is imperative for its prevention, early detection, and management. While online health information–seeking behavior (OHISB) is increasingly popular due to widespread internet connectivity, little is known about how OHISB for COPD has changed in comparison with the COPD disease burden, particularly at a country-specific level.ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine the trends in OHISB for COPD and how that compared with the estimates of COPD disease burden in Singapore, a highly wired country with a steadily increasing COPD disease burden.MethodsTo examine the trends in OHISB for COPD, we performed Prais-Winsten regression analyses on monthly search volume data for COPD from January 2004 to June 2020 downloaded from Google Trends. We then conducted cross-correlational analyses to examine the relationship between annualized search volume on COPD topics and estimates of COPD morbidity and mortality reported in the Global Burden of Disease study from 2004 to 2017.ResultsFrom 2004 to 2020, the trend in COPD search volume was curvilinear (β=1.69, t194=6.64, P<.001), with a slope change around the end of 2006. There was a negative linear trend (β=–0.53, t33=–3.57, P=.001) from 2004 to 2006 and a positive linear trend (β=0.51, t159=7.43, P<.001) from 2007 to 2020. Cross-correlation analyses revealed positive associations between COPD search volume and COPD disease burden indicators: positive correlations between search volume and prevalence, incidence, years living with disability (YLD) at lag 0, and positive correlations between search volume and prevalence, YLD at lag 1.ConclusionsGoogle search volume on COPD increased from 2007 to 2020; this trend correlated with the upward trajectory of several COPD morbidity estimates, suggesting increasing engagement in OHISB for COPD in Singapore. These findings underscore the importance of making high-quality, web-based information accessible to the public, particularly COPD patients and their carers.
Highlights
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally [1] and affected approximately 251 million of the world’s population in 2016 [2]
Patients’ knowledge of COPD may be suboptimal because of the complexity of its name, in English and in other languages [9]. These barriers can be at least partially attributed to inadequate knowledge of COPD, which can be improved by making high-quality health information more accessible
The patients’ online health information needs were primarily related to symptom control and COPD treatments; over 60% of the patients had discussed COPD information on the internet with their health care providers [12]. Another web-based survey of 176 COPD patients found that eHealth literacy, defined as the capacity to seek, locate, understand, evaluate, and apply health information from the internet, was higher in patients with more severe COPD [13]. These findings suggest that, at least in the United States, online health information–seeking behavior (OHISB) is common among COPD patients with internet access, and more frequent OHISB appears to be associated with more unmet needs in disease management
Summary
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally [1] and affected approximately 251 million of the world’s population in 2016 [2]. Patients’ knowledge of COPD may be suboptimal because of the complexity of its name, in English and in other languages [9] These barriers can be at least partially attributed to inadequate knowledge of COPD, which can be improved by making high-quality health information more accessible. Conclusions: Google search volume on COPD increased from 2007 to 2020; this trend correlated with the upward trajectory of several COPD morbidity estimates, suggesting increasing engagement in OHISB for COPD in Singapore. These findings underscore the importance of making high-quality, web-based information accessible to the public, COPD patients and their carers
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