ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the public demands for information about congenital birth defects in “Baidu zhidao” based on word frequency retrieval.Methods:Based on discussion between obstetrics and gynecology experts and epidemiological experts, the key words related to congenital birth defects were determined and the search strategy was formulated. Python 2.7 was used for web crawler search. Questions related to congenital birth defects were obtained on the “Baidu zhidao” platform, and then the R 4.0.2 software was used to process the data, complete the semantic analysis of keywords and statistical analysis of word frequency, and draw word cloud graph and polar chart to describe the key results.Results:A total of 16668 non-repetitive questions were retrieved from “Baidu zhidao” platform, and the frequency of semantic words was 15 371. Among them, 35.02% were the names and symptoms of congenital birth defects. In addition, the frequency of congenital heart disease was the highest (26.09%). The results of subject analysis of key words of birth defects showed that the average word frequency of diagnosis and treatment semantic words (49.55) was significantly higher than that of etiology and prevention semantic words (12.47). In addition, the key words of examination, cause, treatment, development and heredity were more frequently used in the semantic words related to the seven types of systemic malformations.Conclusion:The public in China has a high demand for information on congenital birth defect related diseases, and their causes, prevention and treatment, especially congenital heart disease.