Search Trends for Micronutrients on Google Trends in Iran for Historical Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Ecological Study

Abstract

Background: The use of micronutrients to maintain health, prevent disease, and reduce disease severity is increasing. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the trend of public opinion toward micronutrients in Iran. Methods: An ecological study was conducted in the Google Trend (GT) database. First, users' specified search terms related to “COVID-19,” “corona (Iranian COVID-19),” “vitamin-D,” “vitamin-C,” and “Neurobion” were searched among all searches performed using GTs from January 2017 to 2023. Then, Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to check the correlation between the keywords of Micronutrients with the words COVID-19 during different years. Results: The trend for all three micronutrients (vitamin D and C and Neurobion) increased significantly since 2020, consistent with the search trend for COVID-19, corona, and the waves of COVID-19 in Iran. Vitamin D peaks were observed in 2020 (first wave of COVID-19), vitamin C in 2021 (fifth wave), and Neurobion in 2022 (seventh and eighth waves). There was a high and objective correlation coefficient between COVID-19, vitamin C (R2 = 0.73, P = 0.001), and Neurobion (R2 = 0.63, P = 0.001). However, no correlation was observed with vitamin D (R2 = 0.18, P = 0.12). Conclusions: Based on the results, the search for micronutrients in Iran increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public interest might reflect behavior and consumption. GT is a helpful tool for epidemiologists to understand the interests and trends of the general population.