Global Public Interests and Dynamic Trends in Osteoporosis From 2004 to 2019: Infodemiology Study.

Peng Wang,Rong-Rong Cao,Shu-Feng Lei,Fei-Yan Deng,Qing Xu

doi:10.2196/25422

Abstract

BackgroundWith the prolonging of human life expectancy and subsequent population aging, osteoporosis (OP) has become an important public health issue.ObjectiveThis study aimed to understand the global public search interests and dynamic trends in “osteoporosis” using the data derived from Google Trends.MethodsAn online search was performed using the term “osteoporosis” in Google Trends from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2019, under the category “Health.” Cosinor analysis was used to test the seasonality of relative search volume (RSV) for “osteoporosis.” An analysis was conducted to investigate the public search topic rising in RSV for “osteoporosis.”ResultsThere was a descending trend of global RSV for “osteoporosis” from January 2004 to December 2014, and a slowly increasing trend from January 2015 to December 2019. Cosinor analysis showed significant seasonal variations in global RSV for “osteoporosis” (P=.01), with a peak in March and a trough in September. In addition, similar decreasing trends of RSV for “osteoporosis” were found in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada from January 2004 to December 2019. Cosinor test revealed significant seasonal variations in RSV for “osteoporosis” in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, UK, and USA (all P<.001). Furthermore, public search rising topics related to “osteoporosis” included denosumab, fracture risk assessment tool, bone density, osteopenia, osteoarthritis, and risk factor.ConclusionsOur study provided evidence about the public search interest and dynamic trends in OP using web-based data, which would be helpful for public health and policy making.

Highlights

Osteoporosis (OP) is a generalized skeletal disorder characterized by reduction in bone mineral content, low bone mineral density, and deterioration of bone structure, all of which will eventually lead to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fracture [1,2,3]
There was a descending trend of relative search volume (RSV) for “osteoporosis” from January 2004 to December 2014, and a slowly increasing trend from January 2015 to December 2019 (Figure 2A)
The results showed that the global top rising topics were denosumab, fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX), bone tumor, hip fracture, osteomalacia, bone density, risk factor, osteoarthritis, arthritis, and osteopenia (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

OverviewOsteoporosis (OP) is a generalized skeletal disorder characterized by reduction in bone mineral content, low bone mineral density, and deterioration of bone structure, all of which will eventually lead to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fracture [1,2,3]. OP is commonly described as a “silent disease” because it lacks obvious signs, and has become an important public health issue, with estimates indicating that nearly 200 million individuals are impacted worldwide [4]. Multiple risk factors are thought to contribute to the increased likelihood of OP, including sex, age, race, hormone levels, dietary factors, and lifestyle choices [5,6,7]. Internet has become an important platform for people to seek and share health-related information. J Med Internet Res 2021 | vol 23 | iss. Research on internet data are usually referred to as “infodemiology studies” [10,11]. With the prolonging of human life expectancy and subsequent population aging, osteoporosis (OP) has become an important public health issue

Methods

Results

Conclusion