Analyzing Public Interest in Metabolic Health-Related Search Terms During COVID-19 Using Google Trends

Abstract

Background In late 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged as a novel virus and initiated a series of events that culminated in the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Throughout 2020 and the first half of 2021, massive investigational efforts towards identifying, treating, preventing, and slowing the spread of COVID-19 were carried out. Several predictors for clinical outcomes relating to metabolic health were identified. Aim and methods This study aimed to investigate how public interest in search terms associated with metabolic health has changed throughout and during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Google Trends was utilized as a tool to gather and compare public interest data in a variety of search phrases. The relative search values were plotted over time, compared pre-and post-COVID-19, analyzed for correlation, assessed for trend directionality, and checked for trend inclusion. Results The public interest measured by relative search volume in "metabolic health," "exercise," "home exercise," "health," and "how to improve fitness" significantly increased from pre- to post-COVID-19 pandemic onset while "diet" and "fitness" significantly decreased. The search terms "COVID" and "coronavirus" made up more than 95% of screen queries incorporating COVID-19. During the COVID-19 pandemic, "diabetes" and "weight loss" had the most significant increases in search volume. Conclusions Given the changes in public interest observed throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that the association between metabolic health and COVID-19 is being successfully disseminated to the public. However, these changes also warrant increased public education surrounding diet and fitness to align public interest with measures proven to improve the clinical outcomes of COVID-19.

Keywords: coronavirus; covid-19; google trends; metabolic health; metabolism; obesity; public interest; sars-cov-2; scientific communication; social data.

Figure 1. Google Trends interface.

Data source: Google Trends (A and B) Phrase search bars. (C) Regional selection criteria. (D) Date selection. (E) Categorical search filter. (F) Search type. (H) Data actionable (download, embed, share from left to right). (I) Interest by region. (J) List of regions with the highest RSV. RSV: relative search volume

Figure 2. General search terms’ RSV before and after the onset of COVID-19.

(A) Relative search volume of words and phrases associated with metabolic health over a two-year period. (B) Relative search volume of specific inquiries in improving health over a two-year period. RSV: relative search volume; COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019

Figure 3. Temporal and associative relationships between metabolic health-related search terms.

(A) Weekly average public interest in metabolic health-related searches before and after the onset of COVID-19. (B) Pearson coefficient matrix of metabolic health-related searches over a two-year period. COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019

Figure 4. COVID-19 pandemic-related syntax selection for increased search sensitivity.

(A) Relative search volume of COVID-19 pandemic-related search phrases. (B) Average relative search volume of COVID-19 pandemic-related search phrases throughout the ongoing pandemic. SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; COVID: coronavirus disease; RSV: relative search volume

Figure 5. RSV of COVID-19-specific search phrases related to metabolic health during the COVID-19 pandemic (changing public interest during the pandemic progression).

RSV of (A) coronavirus/COVID, (B) diabetes + COVID, (C) BMI + COVID, (D) weight loss + COVID, (E) metabolism + COVID, (F) obesity + COVID. COVID: coronavirus disease; RSV: relative search volume

Figure 6. Slopes of search phrases including “COVID” since the start of the pandemic.

COVID: coronavirus disease; RSV: relative search volume