Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy for COVID-19: Global and Indian internet search trends in 2 years of pandemic

ABSTRACT

Background: Alternative medicine systems in India are growing with the advancement of research and pharmaceuticals. The disease – COVID-19 has still no specific treatment modality and the pandemic is continuing. Among the alternative medicine systems, which one is searched more with a connection to the pandemic, are still unknown. Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to assess the global and Indian internet search volume of alternative system medicine – Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy during the past 2 years of the pandemic (March 2020– March 2022). Materials and Methods: On the Google Trends website (https//trends.google.com), we used the following combination of phrases to search the trend and compare the trends “COVID Ayurveda,” “COVID Yoga,” “COVID Unani,” “COVID Siddha,” and “COVID Homeopathy.” The data were filtered with the date range from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2022. First, the data were collected for the whole world and then India. All the comma separated values were downloaded for further data analysis. Results: Globally, there were two spikes of searching the COVID and Yoga in the second wave and third wave. Search for homeopathy and Ayurveda also showed two peaks during the first and second waves. In India, there were three spikes of search volume for yoga in three waves. The search for homeopathy showed a peak in the first wave. We found a significant positive correlation between global searches and Indian searches. This indicates a correlated demand or knowledge-seeking regarding alternative medicine. Conclusion: People around the world search for alternative medicine as a possible treatment method for COVID-19. The most common search was for Yoga, followed by homeopathy and Ayurveda in the global population. In India, yoga was the highest searched method followed by homeopathy and Ayurveda.