Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May 10:42:22.
doi: 10.11604/pamj.2022.42.22.34249. eCollection 2022.

Learning about cardiac arrest from 'Dr. Google': a pre- and peri-pandemic infodemiology study in Nigeria

Tonia Chinyelu Onyeka  1   2 , Ijeoma Uchenna Itanyi  2   3 , Hilary Uchenna Ezugwu  4 , Matthew Allsop  5
Affiliations

Learning about cardiac arrest from 'Dr. Google': a pre- and peri-pandemic infodemiology study in Nigeria

Tonia Chinyelu Onyeka et al. Pan Afr Med J. .

Abstract

Introduction: the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdowns restricted movement with non-essential hospital trips discouraged to prevent spread of the virus. Disruption of medical services can lead to increased seeking of medical advice and symptom management online. With COVID-19 known to worsen existing cardiovascular disease or precipitate a new one, we sought to explore online search trends of the Nigerian public regarding cardiac events before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: using Google Trends™, relative search volume for the terms 'cardiac arrest', 'heart attack', and 'heart arrest' were analyzed for the periods 27th February to 30th September in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test for relative search volume, search terms comparison in both years and Kendall´s correlation coefficient for examining relationships between time frames and search terms were used.

Results: searches for terms 'heart attack' (p<0.001) and 'heart arrest' (p=0.01) were higher in 2020 compared to 2019, with a correlation between searches for 'cardiac arrest' and 'heart arrest' (p<0.001) and between 'heart attack' and 'heart arrest' (p=0.01). There was a strong positive correlation between search for 'heart attack' in 2019 and 2020 (tau b=0.35, p<0.001); and a moderate positive correlation for 'heart arrest' (tau b=0.13, p=0.01).

Conclusion: increased online activity relating to cardiac arrest was recorded during the early months of the pandemic when compared to the year prior. Notable increases in search activity aligned with the timing of heart-related illnesses and deaths of Nigerian celebrities during the pandemic. Further understanding of health-related online search activity in Nigeria could inform the development of health promotion interventions and support health-related information seeking for cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: Cardiac arrest; Google; health promotion; heart arrest; heart attack.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
maximum monthly RSVs for 2019 and 2020
Figure 2
Figure 2
time-series plot of daily relative search volumes for 2020
Figure 3
Figure 3
time-series plot of daily relative search volumes for 2019
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Pei-Chuan Huang E, Chiang WC, Hsieh MJ, Wang HC, Yang CW, Lu TC, et al. Public knowledge, attitudes and willingness regarding bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a nationwide survey in Taiwan. J Formos Med Assoc. 2019;118(2):572–581. - PubMed
    1. Böttiger BW, Becker LB, Kern KB, Lippert F, Lockey A, Ristagno G, et al. Big fivr strategies for survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2020;37(11):955–958. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Drezner JA, Fudge J, Harmon KG, Berger S, Campbell RM, Vetter VL. Warning symptoms and family history in children and young adults with sudden cardiac arrest. J Am Board Fam Med. 2012;25(4):408–415. - PubMed
    1. Patel K, Hipskind JE. Cardiac arrest StatPearls. 2021. Accessed 9th March 2022. - PubMed
    1. Berdowski J, Berg RA, Tijssen JGP, Koster RW. Global incidences of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and survival rates: systematic review of 67 prospective studies. Resuscitation. 2010;81(11):1479–1487. - PubMed