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Multicenter Study
. 2020 Nov;18(12):2833-2834.e3.
doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2020.06.058. Epub 2020 Jul 3.

Increased Internet Search Interest for GI Symptoms May Predict COVID-19 Cases in US Hotspots

Imama Ahmad  1 , Ryan Flanagan  2 , Kyle Staller  3
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Increased Internet Search Interest for GI Symptoms May Predict COVID-19 Cases in US Hotspots

Imama Ahmad et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Google Trends is an online tool that allows measurement of search term popularity on Google, spatially and temporally. While not an epidemiological tool for determining incidence, it can estimate the popularity of a certain disease by search volume over time.1,2 It has previously correlated well with infectious disease incidence and has demonstrated utility in disease forecasting, especially with influenza data.3 We utilized Google Trends to investigate whether search interest in common gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms would correlate with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) incidence data.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Google search volumes relative to new COVID-19 cases for New York in early 2020. The y-axis values (both disease incidence and search volume data) are rescaled from 0 to 1 to ensure ease of comparison. W, week.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • COVID-19 Epidemiology and Google Searches.
    Jansson-Knodell CL, Bhavsar-Burke I, Shin A. Jansson-Knodell CL, et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021 Feb;19(2):406-407. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2020.10.020. Epub 2020 Oct 15. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021. PMID: 33068785 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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