Emerging application of Google Trends searches on "conjunctivitis" for tracing the course of COVID-19 pandemic.
Eur J Ophthalmol
; 32(4): 1947-1952, 2022 Jul.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1371937
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
The aim of the present study was to use Google Trends for evaluating the association between the internet searches of the term "conjunctivitis" and the daily new cases of COVID-19.METHODS:
The relative search volume (RSV) of conjunctivitis from January 1 to April 16, 2019 (control group), January 1 to April 16, 2020 (first wave), and October 1 to December 31, 2020 (second wave) was obtained using Google Trends in Italy, France, United Kingdom, and United States. The number of COVID-19 daily new cases in the same countries were retrieved from Worldometer. Lag time correlation analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between RSV and daily new cases (Pearson's correlation coefficient).RESULTS:
During the first wave, the lagged RSV of conjunctivitis was significantly correlated with the number of COVID-19 daily new cases in all investigated countries. The highest correlation coefficients were obtained with a lag of 16 days in Italy (R = 0.868), 18 days in France (R = 0.491), 15 days in United Kingdom (R = 0.883), and 14 days in United States (R = 0.484) (all p < 0.001). Conversely, no significant correlations were found in the second wave and in the control group.CONCLUSION:
Google Trends searches on conjunctivitis were significantly correlated with COVID-19 daily new cases during the first wave in Italy, France, United Kingdom, and United States, with a lag of 14-18 days. Repeating the analysis for the second wave, however, no significant correlations were found in any of the investigated countries.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Conjunctivitis
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
/
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur J Ophthalmol
Journal subject:
Ophthalmology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
11206721211042551
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