Neurology. 2022 Jan 4;98(12 Suppl 2):S9-S10. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000801820.38637.38.
This investigation employs 2004-2020 Google Trends data to correlate concussion search popularity and high school sports participation while assessing search seasonality and factors associated with search escalation.
Events linked to concussions, from news to entertainment, altered public perception of concussions and discouraged high-risk activities. Such sentiment likely promoted high school football's 2004-2018 8% decrease in participation, despite simultaneous 8% increase for sports overall. Google Trends (GT) analysis calculates distinct subjects' popularity scores (0-100) by normalizing Google search frequency with other subjects in the same topic. With 35% of patients researching their conditions using Google, tracking concussion popularity scores allows robust analysis of event-driven fluctuation, seasonal variation, and sports impact.
DESIGN/METHODS: Worldwide GT analysis was conducted for the disease topic "Concussion" with the categorical filter "Health" from 2004 to 2020. This period's monthly popularity scores with annual averages and annual high school sports participation data were subsequently obtained from Google Trends and the National Federation of State High School Associations, respectively.
Concurrence of significant score changes with CTE studies' publication, release of 2015 film , and the COVID-19 pandemic validates GT's measurement of public interest. From 2006 to 2016, Pearson's correlation coefficients demonstrated strong negative correlation between GT popularity scores for "Concussion" with total number of high school football participants overall (R2 = 0.8553) and participants per school (R2 = 0.9533). Confirming football-related seasonality, one-way ANOVA regression analysis concluded 2004-2020's mean change in month-specific popularity score is not the same ( = 3.193E-08), and months during football season had statistically significant variability (September: = 4.389E-05) with elevated average z-scores.
Coupled with ANOVA regression and normalized analyses, strong negative correlations between concussion popularity score and high school football participation produce quantitative measures of a long-suspected relationship. Tracking concussion popularity and seasonality with Google Trends provides insight into how, when, and why patients are educating themselves online.
本研究利用 2004-2020 年谷歌趋势数据，关联脑震荡搜索热度与高中体育参与度，同时评估搜索的季节性和与搜索热度上升相关的因素。
与脑震荡相关的事件，从新闻到娱乐，改变了公众对脑震荡的看法，使人们对高风险活动望而却步。这种情绪可能导致 2004 年至 2018 年期间高中橄榄球运动的参与率下降了 8%，尽管同期总体体育活动的参与率上升了 8%。谷歌趋势（GT）分析通过将谷歌搜索频率与同一主题中的其他主题进行归一化，计算出不同主题的受欢迎程度得分（0-100）。由于 35%的患者使用谷歌搜索他们的病情，因此跟踪脑震荡受欢迎程度得分可以对事件驱动的波动、季节性变化和体育活动的影响进行强有力的分析。
方法/设计：对 2004 年至 2020 年期间疾病主题“脑震荡”进行了全球范围内的 GT 分析，并使用“健康”类别过滤器进行了分类。随后，从谷歌趋势和全国高中体育协会分别获得了每月的平均流行度得分和年度高中体育参与数据。
与 CTE 研究的发表、2015 年电影的上映以及 COVID-19 大流行同时出现的显著得分变化，验证了 GT 对公众兴趣的衡量。从 2006 年到 2016 年，皮尔逊相关系数显示“脑震荡”的 GT 流行度得分与高中橄榄球运动总参与人数（R2=0.8553）和每所学校的参与者人数（R2=0.9533）之间存在很强的负相关。证实了与足球相关的季节性，单因素方差分析回归分析得出，2004-2020 年特定月份的平均流行度得分变化并不相同（=3.193E-08），并且足球赛季期间的月份具有统计学上的显著可变性（9 月：=4.389E-05），平均 z 分数升高。
与方差分析回归和归一化分析相结合，脑震荡流行度得分与高中橄榄球运动参与度之间的强负相关关系产生了对长期以来怀疑的关系的定量衡量。使用谷歌趋势跟踪脑震荡的流行度和季节性，为了解患者如何、何时以及为何在网上自我教育提供了深入的见解。
