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. 2022 Sep;39(3):284-292.
doi: 10.1111/hir.12421. Epub 2022 Feb 14.

Interest in dentistry in early months of the COVID-19 global pandemic: A Google Trends approach

Nuray Bağcı  1 , Ilkay Peker  1
Affiliations

Interest in dentistry in early months of the COVID-19 global pandemic: A Google Trends approach

Nuray Bağcı et al. Health Info Libr J. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

Background: In early the COVID-19 pandemic, routine dental treatments have been delayed due to the risk of disease transmission. This delay may lead public to search for information on the Internet for a solution.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the public interest in dentistry in the early months of the COVID-19 global pandemic in the selected countries.

Methods: The daily numbers of new COVID-19 cases were recorded for China, South Korea, Italy, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. For these countries, Internet search interest of the keyword 'dentistry', 'coronavirus', 'COVID-19', 'SARS-CoV-2' and 'pandemic' in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic was evaluated by using Google Trends data.

Results: In most countries included the public Internet search interest in 'dentistry+coronavirus+COVID-19+SARS-CoV-2+pandemic' peaked prior to the peak of new COVID-19 cases. While a statistically significant positive correlation was observed between the number of new cases and Google Trends data in China, South Korea, Italy and Germany, a statistically significant negative correlation was observed in Turkey.

Conclusion: The peak public interest in dentistry has been prior to the peak of COVID-19 new cases in most countries. The use of Internet data can provide useful information about pandemics and many other diseases.

Keywords: dental health; internet; pandemic; quantitative; research.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Distribution of new cases, deaths and Google Trends RSV for the searched terms according to the date, in the early group countries (A: China, B: South Korea, C: Germany, D: Italy; pink line: Google Trends RSV, black line: daily new case number and red line: daily death number; RSV, relative search volume)
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Distribution of new cases, deaths and Google Trends RSV for the searched terms according to the date, in the late group countries (A: Russia, B: Ukraine, C: Turkey; pink line: Google Trends RSV, black line: daily new case number and red line: daily death number; RSV, relative search volume)
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