Examining the trends in online health information-seeking behavior about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Singapore: Analysis of data from Google trends and the global burden of disease study

Abstract

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally, and timely health care seeking is imperative for its prevention, early detection, and management. While online health information-seeking behavior (OHISB) is increasingly popular due to widespread internet connectivity, little is known about how OHISB for COPD has changed in comparison with the COPD disease burden, particularly at a country-specific level. Objective: This study aimed to examine the trends in OHISB for COPD and how that compared with the estimates of COPD disease burden in Singapore, a highly wired country with a steadily increasing COPD disease burden. Methods: To examine the trends in OHISB for COPD, we performed Prais-Winsten regression analyses on monthly search volume data for COPD from January 2004 to June 2020 downloaded from Google Trends. We then conducted cross-correlational analyses to examine the relationship between annualized search volume on COPD topics and estimates of COPD morbidity and mortality reported in the Global Burden of Disease study from 2004 to 2017. Results: From 2004 to 2020, the trend in COPD search volume was curvilinear (β=1.69, t194=6.64, P