College of Medicine, University of the Philippines, Ermita, Manila, Philippines.
J Prev Med Hyg. 2022 Jul 31;63(2):E292-E297. doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2022.63.2.2556. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Viral hepatitis remains a public health concern worldwide, mainly in developing countries. The public's awareness and interest in viral hepatitis information are essential in preventing and controlling this disease. Infodemiology has been used as a surrogate to assess the general understanding of disease and measure public awareness of health topics. However, this analysis has not been applied to viral hepatitis. Thus, this study investigated the online global search interest for viral hepatitis in the last decade, focusing on the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Global online search interest for hepatitis was measured using the Google Trends™ database. Spearman's rank-order correlation correlated country-specific characteristics and prevalence data with search volume index.
There was a significant reduction in online search interest for hepatitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020). People searching for hepatitis are also interested in hepatitis vaccination. Search volume index is positively correlated with viral hepatitis and HIV prevalence and negatively correlated with GDP. This correlation mirrors the high burden of viral hepatitis in developing countries and their citizens' desire to be informed about this disease.
Our study found decreased global online interest in viral hepatitis during the pandemic. Moreover, higher online interest in hepatitis was observed in countries with a lower gross domestic product and high viral hepatitis and HIV prevalence. We demonstrated that global online interest toward viral hepatitis could be assessed through the infodemiologic approach using Google Trends™.
病毒性肝炎仍然是全球公共卫生关注的问题，主要在发展中国家。公众对病毒性肝炎信息的认识和兴趣对于预防和控制这种疾病至关重要。传染病学已被用作评估疾病一般认知和衡量公众对健康主题意识的替代方法。然而，这种分析尚未应用于病毒性肝炎。因此，本研究调查了过去十年中病毒性肝炎的全球在线搜索兴趣，重点关注 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间。
使用 Google Trends™ 数据库测量肝炎的全球在线搜索兴趣。Spearman 秩相关分析将特定国家的特征和流行数据与搜索量指数相关联。
在 COVID-19 大流行期间（2020 年），对肝炎的在线搜索兴趣显著下降。搜索肝炎的人也对肝炎疫苗接种感兴趣。搜索量指数与病毒性肝炎和 HIV 流行呈正相关，与 GDP 呈负相关。这种相关性反映了发展中国家病毒性肝炎的高负担以及这些国家的公民对了解这种疾病的渴望。
我们的研究发现，大流行期间全球对病毒性肝炎的在线兴趣下降。此外，在国内生产总值较低、病毒性肝炎和 HIV 流行率较高的国家，对肝炎的在线兴趣更高。我们证明，通过使用 Google Trends™ 的传染病学方法，可以评估全球对病毒性肝炎的在线兴趣。
