Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, Nova Southeastern University Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
Child Obes. 2024 May;20(4):289-299. doi: 10.1089/chi.2023.0015. Epub 2023 Jul 13.
Childhood obesity (CO) is rapidly increasing in prevalence and developing into a health crisis of developed nations. The condition is associated with increased risk of developing various comorbidities later in life. Current treatment algorithms primarily target family education. Thus, this study aims to understand the quality of information online regarding CO and common comorbidities, determine the readability of online information, and report patterns in public interest over time using Google Trends. Four validated quality of information tools and 6 readability tools were implemented across 36 websites derived from 4 Google searches. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the associations between Google Trends' relative search volumes (RSVs) and biennial BMI-based cumulative proportion of CO. Results showed variable information quality among the websites as scores ranged from "fair" to "very poor." Using six readability formulas, no website scored at or below the sixth grade reading level recommended by the American Medical Association. Google Trends' RSVs for the term "Childhood Obesity" were repeatedly increased in the months that fall in the US academic school year (October-November and February-May), and decreased within months in the US vacation periods (December-January and June-September). Search volumes were also negatively correlated with CO and pediatric type 2 diabetes prevalence. In summary, while Google Trends analysis showed that schools may play a role in increasing interest and awareness online, quality of information and readability analysis displayed that the information and its accessibility are far too variable to be reliable.
儿童肥胖症（CO）的患病率正在迅速上升，成为发达国家的健康危机。这种情况与日后发生各种合并症的风险增加有关。目前的治疗算法主要针对家庭教育。因此，本研究旨在了解有关 CO 和常见合并症的在线信息质量，确定在线信息的可读性，并使用 Google Trends 报告随时间推移的公众兴趣模式。在 36 个从 4 个 Google 搜索中得出的网站上实施了四个经过验证的信息质量工具和六个可读性工具。Pearson 相关系数用于确定 Google Trends 的相对搜索量（RSV）与基于 BMI 的 CO 累积比例的两年期之间的关联。结果表明，网站之间的信息质量存在差异，得分范围从“公平”到“非常差”。使用六个可读性公式，没有一个网站的得分低于美国医学协会推荐的六年级阅读水平。术语“儿童肥胖症”的 Google Trends RSV 在 fall 在美学校学年（十月至十一月和二月至五月）的几个月中反复增加，并在美假期（十二月至一月和六月至九月）的几个月中减少。搜索量也与 CO 和儿科 2 型糖尿病的患病率呈负相关。 总之，虽然 Google Trends 分析表明学校可能在增加在线兴趣和意识方面发挥作用，但信息质量和可读性分析表明，信息及其可访问性差异太大，不可靠。
