Decreased global online interest in obesity from 2004 to 2021: An infodemiology study

ABSTRACT

Background: The prevalence of obesity continued to increase and has doubled in more than 70 countries since 1980. The online search traffic pattern analysis has been used to determine the effectiveness of public health programs, early disease detection, prevention, and management. However, this analysis has not yet been applied for obesity. Aims: This study investigated the pattern of online search traffic and determined the possible factors associated with online interest in obesity. Methods: Global online search interest for obesity was measured using the Google Trends™ database. We used the search term "obesity". We limited the results from 2004 until 2021 from all countries. Correlation between country-specific characteristics and search volume index was determined using Spearman's rank-order correlation. Results: This study showed a significant decrease in global online interest in obesity from 2004 to 2021. People searching for the term “obesity” also searched for the different classifications of obesity, childhood obesity, diabetes, and COVID. The top countries where the search term “obesity” was most popular included Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The population was shown to be negatively correlated with online interest in obesity (p = 0.015). Conclusions: This study showed a significant decrease in online search traffic for obesity. This may serve as a proxy measure of the public's decreased awareness and health-seeking behavior for obesity. This study emphasizes the need for more health education campaigns and programs to control and prevent obesity worldwide.