TY - JOUR
T1 - Correlating regional aeroallergen effects on internet search activity
AU - Willson, Thomas J.
AU - Lospinoso, Joshua
AU - Weitzel, Erik
AU - McMains, Kevin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2014.
PY - 2015/2/5
Y1 - 2015/2/5
N2 - Objective. To investigate the correlation between the change in regional aeroallergen levels and Internet search activity related to allergies. Study Design. A retrospective time series analysis using a graphical analytical approach and statistical modeling was used. Setting. Tertiary academic hospital setting. Subjects and Methods. There were no specific enrolled subjects. Data from Google Trends were obtained (google.com/ trends) for the following search terms: allergy, allergies, pollen, runny nose, congestion, and post nasal drainage. Daily pollen and mold spore count data were obtained for the same period from throughout Texas. Graphical analysis, correlation, and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) were employed to assess the relationship between aeroallergens on Google search activity. Results. A strong positive correlation was observed between observed pollen counts and search activity for the terms allergies (rpollen = 0.798), allergy (rpollen = 0.781), and pollen (rpollen = 0.849). Symptom term searches were weakly correlated with pollen and mold counts. Also, ARIMA modeling supported the relationships indicated by the correlations. Conclusion. Search activities for surrogate terms such as allergy, allergies, and pollen correlate strongly with observed pollen counts but not mold counts. These data demonstrate the usefulness of Google Trends search data in assessing regional disease burdens and offer insight into how the public seeks information about their own illness.
AB - Objective. To investigate the correlation between the change in regional aeroallergen levels and Internet search activity related to allergies. Study Design. A retrospective time series analysis using a graphical analytical approach and statistical modeling was used. Setting. Tertiary academic hospital setting. Subjects and Methods. There were no specific enrolled subjects. Data from Google Trends were obtained (google.com/ trends) for the following search terms: allergy, allergies, pollen, runny nose, congestion, and post nasal drainage. Daily pollen and mold spore count data were obtained for the same period from throughout Texas. Graphical analysis, correlation, and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) were employed to assess the relationship between aeroallergens on Google search activity. Results. A strong positive correlation was observed between observed pollen counts and search activity for the terms allergies (rpollen = 0.798), allergy (rpollen = 0.781), and pollen (rpollen = 0.849). Symptom term searches were weakly correlated with pollen and mold counts. Also, ARIMA modeling supported the relationships indicated by the correlations. Conclusion. Search activities for surrogate terms such as allergy, allergies, and pollen correlate strongly with observed pollen counts but not mold counts. These data demonstrate the usefulness of Google Trends search data in assessing regional disease burdens and offer insight into how the public seeks information about their own illness.
KW - aeroallergen
KW - allergen
KW - allergic rhinitis
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U2 - 10.1177/0194599814560149
DO - 10.1177/0194599814560149
M3 - Article
C2 - 25505261
AN - SCOPUS:84922244896
VL - 152
SP - 228
EP - 232
JO - Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (United States)
JF - Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (United States)
SN - 0194-5998
IS - 2
ER -