Abstract
Objectives: Health services have been disrupted due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). With patients, unable to access face to face healthcare, many turn to sources such as the Internet for health-related information. Other patients ignore all other health related issues and focus on the threat posed by a pandemic. This study sought to analyse the Internet health-seeking behaviour related to urological cancer of patients in the United Kingdom (UK) during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Methods: Internet search volumes over a 3-month period, during the UK pandemic, were analysed using Google TrendsTM to obtain a search volume index (SVI) and compared to an equivalent pre COVID-19 period. The SVI measures relative search volume and was obtained for “Prostate Cancer”, “Kidney Cancer”, “Bladder Cancer” and Testicular Cancer” searches. Results: The average SVI for Prostate Cancer before the COVID-19 pandemic was 49.3, compared to 42.6 during the pandemic (p=0.001). Kidney cancer had an average SVI of 45.5 before the pandemic compared to 35.4 during the pandemic (p <0.001). Similar results were obtained for Bladder and Testicular Cancer. There was a 23% decrease in SVI for urological cancer searches during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic (p <0.001). Conclusions: The decline in searches for urological cancer during the pandemic may have implications. Patients maybe ignoring new cancer related symptoms which could result in late diagnoses, public health campaigns are required. Patients with cancer may not be utilising online resources available to them and healthcare professionals should reach out to patients at a time when face-face interaction is limited.
Highlights
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic which originated in Wuhan (Hubei, China) in December 2019 has had a massive impact on global health
Regional variation was evident in search terms for Prostate Cancer between the 30th of January to the 30th of April 2019 with Wales having an search volume index (SVI) of 100, with both Northern Ireland and Scotland at the bottom end of the scale with an SVI of 80
This study has revealed a significant decrease in searches for Urological Cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic which originated in Wuhan (Hubei, China) in December 2019 has had a massive impact on global health. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 is responsible for causing COVID-19 with an illness ranging from mild to critical.[1] Common symptoms of the disease include, fever, cough, muscle aches and shortness of breath.[1] With many health systems around the world struggling to cope, there has been a change in the way in which other health conditions including cancers are dealt with. The first coronavirus case was recorded in the UK on the 30th of January 2020, with 236,711 cases confirmed as of 16 May 2020.2 Sir Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the National Health Service (NHS), wrote a letter on the 17th of March, outlining the NHS’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They recommended only the most urgent cases to be managed on a face-to-face basis.[5]
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