What our patients are looking for-the common fields of interest in IBD patients: A google trends analysis

ABSTRACT

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases are varied in the way they present, progress and respond to treatment. IBD patients frequently complain about the lack of proper knowledge and support systems, this gap leads to an extensive online search for information. The aim of our study was to characterize the trends in IBD-related Google searches by exploring the Google Trends query tool Methods: We retrieved worldwide Google Trends data related to Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis over the past, 10 years (Jan, 2011 - Oct, 2021). The search terms selection was based on preferences and knowledge gaps identified by an online survey by the members of the of the israeli Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis patients association, coupled with data from available literature and Google autocompletion data. We also compared the search volume of the two diseases using the “Topic” feature in google trends, which allows us to utilize google's search terms aggregation by a specific topic. Google trends provide RSV (Relative Search Volume) over time, and over different regions. The results are normalized on a scale of, 0-100 (100 signifying the most highly-search item).We also compared the RSV for searches related to UC and CD. Results: Out of the, 20 domains researched over, 370 months, the, 10 most searched domains in Crohn's disease related searches was 'diet'(41.30%), 'cancer'(14.22%), 'weight'(7.52%), 'pregnancy'( 4.44%), 'disability'(4.05%), 'COVID'(3.45%), 'alcohol' (3.22%), 'vaccine' (3.17%), 'stress' (2.54%) and 'smoking' (2.47%). The, 10 most searched domain in ulcerative colitis related searches was 'diet' (41.72%), 'cancer' (18.69%), 'weight' (5.47%), 'pregnancy'(4.77%), 'smoking'(3.76%), 'alcohol'(3.63%), 'probiotics(3.27%), 'disability'( 2.77%), 'stress'(2.62%) and 'covid'(2.12%). When focusing at the time period between March, 2020 and October, 2021, the most searched domain in crohn's disease was 'COVID'(22.67%) followed by 'diet'(21.81%), 'cancer'(12.52%), 'vaccine'(10.70%), 'weight'(7.07%), 'disability' (4.34%), 'alcohol' (2.82%), 'pregnancy' (2.67%), 'stress' (2.22%) and 'biologics' (2.17%). Over the same time span, the most searched domain in ulcerative colitis was 'diet' (29.59%) followed by 'cancer' (18.32%), 'COVID' (11.84%), 'weight' (6.32%), 'vaccine' (5.75%), 'alcohol' (4.07%), 'pregnancy' (3.66%), 'disability' (3.06%), 'smoking' (2.61%) and 'probiotics' (2.46%). Conclusion: Patients have numerous interests related to their IBD disease. The most searched IBD-related item is diet, with COVID-19 leading since the break of the pandemic. Our results are a surrogate representation of the patient's knowledge gaps and needs, and we suggest that IBD healthcare providers should focus their guidance on the issues identified by the patients as such.