Big Data and Sinusitis: Analysis in Google Trends

Abstract

Introduction: The online service Google Trends (GT) shows the popularity of search terms in selected regions and time periods via the relative search volume (RSV). This can be used to detect current trends in medicine and collect epidemiological data. Methods: With GT the interest for the search topic "Sinusitis" in Germany was analyzed. Synonymous terms were assigned to the classic symptoms, compared in RSV and correlation with the trend of "sinusitis". Other search terms correlating with "sinusitis" were identified in Google Correlate (GC). The RSV of all search terms was analyzed over the last 10 years. Results: The GT analysis shows that the RSV of the search topic "sinusitis" has a seasonal trend with the highest peak in February/March and a lower peak in October. The terms "stuffy nose", "rhinorrhea" and "sinus pain" reflect the classic symptoms and correlate with the RSV of the search topic "sinusitis". The GC analysis showed further significant correlations for "bronchitis" (r = 0.94), phytotherapeutics ("Sinupret", r = 0.88), "nasal rinse" (r = 0.89) and traditional herbal medicine ("chicory", r = 0.92). The RSV of the search topic "Sinusitis" and the other search terms has more than doubled in the last 10 years. Conclusions: GT analysis provides data on epidemiology, comorbidities, and trends in self-medication for sinusitis. The significant increase in the popularity of sinusitis and its associated terms confirms that patients increasingly seek information online, highlighting the need for professional presentation of ENT doctors on the Internet.