Detecting epidemiological relevance of adenoid hypertrophy, rhinosinusitis, and allergic rhinitis through an Internet search.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study aimed to detect the epidemiological relevance between adenoid hypertrophy (AH) and rhinosinusitis, and AH and allergic rhinitis (AR) through an Internet search. METHODS: Internet search query data from January 2011 to December 2019 in China were retrieved from the Baidu Index (BI). Spearman's correlation coefficients were used to detect the correlation among the search volumes of AH, rhinosinusitis, and AR. We also collected search data from the first 5 months of 2020, when quarantine was implemented in China due to the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic. Then, we compared the search data to those obtained during the same period in 2019 to assess the effects of isolation on AH and AR. RESULTS: Statistically significant relevance was found between the search variations of AH and rhinosinusitis during 2011-2019 (R = 0.643, P < 0.05). However, the relationship between AH and AR was weak (R = - 0.239, P < 0.05) and that between rhinosinusitis and AR (R = - 0.022, P > 0.05) was not relevant. The average monthly search volume of AH and rhinosinusitis had a strong correlation (R = 0.846, P < 0.01), but AH and AR and rhinosinusitis and AR were not correlated (R = - 0.350, P > 0.05; R = - 0.042, P > 0.05, respectively). AH and rhinosinusitis search volumes decreased consistently during the first 5 months of 2020 (isolation), whereas that for AR increased during January-February. CONCLUSION: AH had an epidemiological relationship with rhinosinusitis, which was not consistent with AR. The decrease in public gathering effectively reduced the morbidities of AH and rhinosinusitis but not those of AR.