Forecasting COVID-19 Testing Load Using Google Trends: Experience from a Lower Middle-Income Country with over 10 Million Diagnostic Tests.
Clin Lab
; 68(2)2022 Feb 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1687426
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The ability to forecast changing trends of COVID-19 can help drive efforts to sustain the increasing burden on the healthcare system, specifically the clinical laboratories. We aimed to assess whether the trends of SARS-CoV-2 testing in Pakistan can be predicted using COVID-19 symptoms as search terms and analyzing the data from Google Trends.METHODS:
The number of weekly SARS-CoV-2 tests performed were retrieved from online COVID-19 data resource. Google Trends data for the search terms with most common COVID-19 symptoms was analyzed for cross-correlation with the number of tests performed nationally.RESULTS:
A total of 10,066,255 SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests were analyzed. Search terms of fever, headache, and shortness of breath displayed a statistically significant correlation with total number of tests performed with a 1-week time lag.CONCLUSIONS:
Google Trends data can be used to forecast the changing trends in COVID-19 testing. This information can be used for careful planning and arrangements to meet increased diagnostic and healthcare demands in difficult times.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19 Testing
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal subject:
Laboratory Techniques and procedures
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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