Unveiling global public interest and seasonal patterns of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance: An infodemiology study with implications for public health awareness and intervention strategies

Abstract

IntroductionThe health-related information-seeking through internet sources has drastically increased throughout the world. This study aimed to analyze the Global public interest on “antibiotics” and “antibiotic resistance”. MethodsThe worldwide internet trend for the search terms “antibiotics” and “antibiotic resistance” from February 2017 to February 2022 was obtained using Google trends. The seasonal variation of interest was analyzed using the Seasonal Decomposition of Time Series by Loess. ResultsThe mean interest for the search term “antibiotics” and “antibiotic resistance” is found to be 78.02 ± 7.5 and 2.3 ± 0.8, which will increase at 2.56 % and 16 % per year. It was observed that there was a significant relationship between antibiotic consumption, the number of physicians, and individuals using the internet in the countries with the search term “antibiotics”. The study also indicates that there is a peak in search volume for the term during the COVID-19 Pandemic. ConclusionOur study observed, that antibiotics related search questions on google by the public indicate the chances of antibiotic misuse. The study data suggest the need to raise public awareness about antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance, as well as there is need for intensive monitoring of dispensing and procurement patterns of antibiotics in developing countries.