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. 2021 Feb 17;96(1):4.
doi: 10.1186/s42506-020-00063-w.

Using Google Trends to assess the impact of Global Public Health Days on online health information-seeking behaviour in Arabian Peninsula

Aymane Ajbar  1 , Thomas A Shepherd  2 , Michelle Robinson  2 , Christian D Mallen  2 , James A Prior  2   3
Affiliations

Using Google Trends to assess the impact of Global Public Health Days on online health information-seeking behaviour in Arabian Peninsula

Aymane Ajbar et al. J Egypt Public Health Assoc. .

Abstract

Background: Global Public Health Days (GPHD) are public health interventions which serve to improve public awareness of specific health conditions. Google Trends is a publicly available tool that allows the user to view the popularity of a searched keyword during a specified time period and across a predetermined region. Our objective was to use Google Trends to assess the impact of four GPHD (World Heart Day, World Mental Health Day, World Diabetes Day and World Hypertension Day) on online health information-seeking behaviour (OHISB), 4 weeks before and a week after the GPHD, across six countries of the Arabian Peninsula (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates).

Methods: Relative Search Volume (RSV) was extracted for the aforementioned countries from 28 days before the GPHD and 7 days afterwards. Statistical analysis, undertaken using joinpoint regression software, showed that GPHD have significant changes for Saudi Arabia (Diabetes, Mental Health and Heart day) and UAE (Mental Health day) but were short-lived with a fall in RSV of up to 80% after peak interest.

Conclusion: GPHD appears to be effective in some countries while further research is needed to investigate the reason of its limitations.

Keywords: Arabian Peninsula; Diabetes mellitus; Global Health; Google Trends; Heart disease; Hypertension; Infodemiology; Mental health; Public Health Campaigns.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart depicting the search methodology. *Search Dates include a total of 36 days, 28 days before global public health day and 7 days after
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
World Diabetes Day joinpoint regression analysis. *The black vertical line represents the global public health day
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
World Mental Health Day joinpoint regression analysis. *The black vertical line represents the global public health day
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
World Heart Day joinpoint regression analysis. *The black vertical line represents the global public health day
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
World Hypertension Day joinpoint regression analysis. *The black vertical line represents the global public health day
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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