Mehra Mehul, Brody Pierce A, Mehrotra Simran, Sakhalkar Om, Maugans Todd
Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA.
College of Osteopathic Medicine, William Carey University, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA.
Neurotrauma Rep. 2023 Mar 24;4(1):159-170. doi: 10.1089/neur.2022.0084. eCollection 2023.
Sports-related concussions occur with high incidence in the United States. Google Trends™ (GT) analyses indicate changes of public interest in a topic over time, and can be correlated with incidence of health events such as concussion. Internet searches represent a primary means of patient education for many health topics, including concussion; however, the quality of medical information yielded by internet searches is variable and frequently of an inappropriate reading level. This study therefore aims to describe GT over time and evaluate the quality and readability of information produced by Google™ searches of the term "concussion." We identified a strong negative correlation from 2009 to 2016 between GT scores and total number of American high school football participants ( = 0.8553) and participants per school ( = 0.9533). Between 2004 and 2020, the monthly GT popularity score were variable ( = 3.193E-08), with September having the greatest scores, correlating with the height of American tackle football season. Applying five validated quality assessment scoring systems at two time points, it was confirmed that different sources yielded varying quality of information. Academic and non-profit healthcare sources demonstrated the highest quality metrics across two time points. There was significant variability of scores among the different scoring systems, however. The majority of searches at both time points yielded information that was rated as "fair" to "poor" in quality. Applying six readability tests, we revealed that only a single commercial website offered information written at or below the American Medical Association- recommended 6th-grade level for healthcare information. In summary, GT data analyses suggest that searches correlate with the American tackle football season and increased between 2009 and 2016, given that public interest in concussion increased and annual participation in football decreased. The quality of information yielded by Google™ searches and readability are inadequate, indicating the need for significant improvement.
在美国，与运动相关的脑震荡发生率很高。谷歌趋势™（GT）分析表明公众对某一主题的兴趣随时间的变化，并且可以与诸如脑震荡等健康事件的发生率相关联。互联网搜索是许多健康主题（包括脑震荡）患者教育的主要方式；然而，互联网搜索产生的医学信息质量参差不齐，且阅读水平往往不合适。因此，本研究旨在描述随时间变化的GT，并评估谷歌™搜索“脑震荡”一词所产生信息的质量和可读性。我们发现2009年至2016年期间，GT得分与美国高中橄榄球参与者总数（r = 0.8553）以及每所学校的参与者人数（r = 0.9533）之间存在很强的负相关。在2004年至2020年期间，每月的GT流行度得分各不相同（r = 3.193E - 08），9月得分最高，这与美国美式橄榄球赛季的高峰期相关。在两个时间点应用五种经过验证的质量评估评分系统，证实不同来源产生的信息质量各不相同。学术和非营利性医疗保健来源在两个时间点的质量指标最高。然而，不同评分系统之间的得分存在显著差异。在两个时间点的大多数搜索产生的信息质量被评为“一般”到“较差”。应用六种可读性测试，我们发现只有一个商业网站提供的信息写作水平达到或低于美国医学协会推荐的医疗保健信息六年级水平。总之，GT数据分析表明搜索与美国美式橄榄球赛季相关，并且在2009年至2016年期间有所增加，因为公众对脑震荡的兴趣增加而年度橄榄球参与人数减少。谷歌™搜索产生的信息质量和可读性不足，表明需要大幅改进。
