Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Am J Rhinol Allergy. 2020 Jul;34(4):482-486. doi: 10.1177/1945892420905761. Epub 2020 Feb 16.
Online search query trends have been shown to correlate with real-life epidemiologic phenomena.
The aim of this study was to analyze correlations in trends in Google online search volumes of sinusitis-related terms, including symptomatology and similar disease states.
Terms clinically associated with "sinusitis" were determined by consensus. Terms of symptomatology were derived from the validated 22-item sinonasal outcome test (SNOT-22) as well as terminology encountered with the authors' clinical experience. Terms of disease states that could overlap in symptomatology with sinusitis were then chosen. Google Trends, an online tool for extracting relative frequencies from a public database of search queries, was used to query normalized monthly volumes in the United States from January 2004 to September 2017 of searches related to the topics decided upon by consensus. Bivariate Pearson correlation was used to compare the search queries.
Online search volumes of "sinusitis" have a distinct seasonal variation, with consistent annual peaks and troughs. In terms of symptomatology, "postnasal drip," "nasal congestion," "cough," "rhinorrhea," and "sore throat" most highly correlated with "sinusitis" search volumes with statistical significance. "sinusitis" search query volume had a higher positive correlation with "common cold" and "acute sinusitis" than "chronic sinusitis" with regard to disease states.
Trends in Google online search volumes over time of "sinusitis" symptomatology mimic real-world clinical phenomena and provide insight into the issues affecting the general population.
在线搜索查询趋势已被证明与现实生活中的流行病学现象相关。
本研究旨在分析与鼻窦炎相关术语（包括症状和类似疾病状态）的谷歌在线搜索量趋势之间的相关性。
通过共识确定与“鼻窦炎”临床相关的术语。症状术语源自经过验证的 22 项鼻-鼻窦结局测试（SNOT-22）以及作者临床经验中遇到的术语。然后选择可能在症状上与鼻窦炎重叠的疾病状态术语。Google Trends 是一种从公共搜索查询数据库中提取相对频率的在线工具，用于查询 2004 年 1 月至 2017 年 9 月美国与共识决定的主题相关的每月归一化搜索量。使用双变量 Pearson 相关系数比较搜索查询。
“鼻窦炎”的在线搜索量具有明显的季节性变化，每年都有一致的高峰和低谷。就症状而言，“后鼻滴注”、“鼻塞”、“咳嗽”、“流涕”和“咽喉痛”与“鼻窦炎”搜索量的相关性最高，具有统计学意义。就疾病状态而言，“鼻窦炎”搜索查询量与“普通感冒”和“急性鼻窦炎”的正相关度高于“慢性鼻窦炎”。
随着时间的推移，“鼻窦炎”症状的谷歌在线搜索量趋势模仿了现实世界中的临床现象，并深入了解影响普通人群的问题。
