Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):583-587 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.072

A Google Trends Analysis: Change in internet searches related to cardiovascular disease during COVID-19 outbreak

Yakup Alsancaka, Murat Gulb
a Department of Cardiology, Meram School of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey
b Department of Cardiology, Aksaray University School of Medicine, Aksaray, Turkey

Aim: A rapidly grown up information about coronavirus (COVID-19) has been regularly broadcast on internet websites or social media. We investigated the Google research trends in searches regarding cardiovascular system diseases or symptoms such as chest pain, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart attack during the COVID-19 pandemic in two countries, Turkey and Italy, which are most affected by this disease.

Methods: The Google TrendsTM (GTTM) was used to retrieve data on Internet user search activities and pat- terns of Google search queries. We searched most known keywords related to cardiovascular disease and symptoms such as chest pain, heart attack, heart diseases, hypertension, high cholesterol in GTTM between January 1, 2020 and May 5, 2020 in Turkish and Italian.

Results: Search interest about coronavirus in Turkey and Italy appeared to have an increasing pattern and it has gradually tended to fall after a short time. Searching trends were higher both of countries about chest pain, hypertension, ACE inhibitor and death between January and May 2020. Searching rates about heart attack was not different for all year, but a significant decrease was remarkable for cholesterol. It was also revealed that as the duration of the pandemic increases in both countries, these research rates decrease.

Conclusion: Internet could be used to determine behaviours of people for searching cardiovascular disease and their symptoms during the outbreak. These data illustrate that internet users in both countries conducted an intense research on cardiac symptoms or diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19, Google, Heart disease, Internet,

Received: June 19, 2020; Revised: June 19, 2020; Accepted: July 18, 2020; Published: December 11, 2020  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Alsancak Y, Gul M. A Google Trends Analysis: Change in internet searches related to cardiovascular disease during COVID-19 outbreak. Cor Vasa. 2020;62(6):583-587. doi: 10.33678/cor.2020.072.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Benjamin EJ, Muntner P, Alonso A, et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2019 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association. Circulation 2019;139:e56-e528. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    2. Garcia S, Albaghdadi MS, Meraj PM, et al. Reduction in ST-Segment Elevation Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Activations in the United States During COVID-19 Pandemic. J Am Coll Cardiol 2020;75:2871-2872. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    3. Rodriguez-Leor O, Cid-Alvarez B. STEMI Care During COVID-19: Losing Sight of the Forest for the Trees. JACC Case Rep 2020;2:1625-1627. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    4. De Filippo O, D'Ascenzo F, Angelini F, et al. Reduced Rate of Hospital Admissions for ACS during Covid-19 Outbreak in Northern Italy. N Engl J Med 2020;383:88-89. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    5. Jellison SS, Bibens M, Checketts J, Vassar M. Using Google Trends to assess global public interest in osteoarthritis. Rheumatol Int 2018;38:2133-2136. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    6. Cervellin G, Comelli I, Lippi G. Is Google Trends a reliable tool for digital epidemiology? Insights from different clinical settings. J Epidemiol Glob Health 2017;7:185-189. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    7. Ginsberg J, Mohebbi MH, Patel RS, et al. Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data. Nature 2009;457:1012-1014. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    8. Bousquet J, Agache I, Anto JM, et al. Google Trends terms reporting rhinitis and related topics differ in European countries. Allergy 2017;72:1261-1266. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    9. Walker A, Hopkins C, Surda P. The use of Google Trends to investigate the loss of smell related searches during COVID-19 outbreak. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol 2020;10:839-847. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Effenberger M, Kronbichler A, Shin JI, et al. Association of the COVID-19 pandemic with Internet Search Volumes: A Google Trends™ Analysis. Int J Infect Dis 2020;95:192-197. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Arora VS, McKee M, Stuckler D. Google Trends: Opportunities and limitations in health and health policy research. Health Policy 2019;123:338-341. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. Mavragani A, Ochoa G. Google Trends in Infodemiology and Infoveillance: Methodology Framework. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2019;5:e13439. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    13. Kumar N, Pandey A, Garg N, et al. Seasonal and Geographic Patterns in Seeking Cardiovascular Health Information: An Analysis of the Online Search Trends. Mayo Clin Proc 2018;93:1185-1190. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    14. Nguyen T, Tran T, Luo W, et al. Web search activity data accurately predict population chronic disease risk in the USA. J Epidemiol Community Health 2015;69:693-699. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    15. Senecal C, Widmer RJ, Lerman LO, Lerman A. Association of Search Engine Queries for Chest Pain With Coronary Heart Disease Epidemiology. JAMA Cardiol 2018;3:1218-1221. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    16. Płatek AE, Sierdziński J, Krzowski B, Szymański FM. Trends in hypertension in Poland: evidence from Google search engine query data. Kardiol Pol 2018;76:637-641. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    17. Aktoz M, Altay H, Aslanger E, et al. Türk Kardiyoloji Derneği Uzlaşi Raporu: COVID-19 Pandemisi ve Kardiyovasküler Hastaliklar Konusunda Bilinmesi Gerekenler. Turk Kardiyol Dern Ars 2020;48(Suppl):1-48.
    18. Dincer G, Dincer ZS, Alsancak AD, et al. Patient compliance to statin treatment: how effective is the media? Türk Aile Hek Derg 2016;20:23-28. Go to original source...
    19. McLean S, Lennon P, Glare P. Internet search query analysis can be used to demonstrate the rapidly increasing public awareness of palliative care in the USA. BMJ Support Palliat Care 2019;9:40-44. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content


    Cor et Vasa

    You are accessing a site intended for medical professionals, not the lay public. The site may also contain information that is intended only for persons authorized to prescribe and dispense medicinal products for human use.

    I therefore confirm that I am a healthcare professional under Act 40/1995 Coll. as amended by later regulations and that I have read the definition of a healthcare professional.


    No
    Yes