Jagomast Tobias, Finck Jule, Tangemann-Münstedt Imke, Auth Katharina, Drömann Daniel, Franzen Klaas F
Medical Clinic III, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
Airway Research Center North, Deutsches Zentrum für Lungenforschung, Großhansdorf, Germany.
Online J Public Health Inform. 2024 Dec 3;16:e57718. doi: 10.2196/57718.
Smoking is a modifiable risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Evidence of smoking behavior during the pandemic is ambiguous. Most investigations report an increase in smoking. In this context, Google Trends data monitor real-time public information-seeking behavior and are therefore useful to characterize smoking-related interest over the trajectory of the pandemic.
This study aimed to use Google Trends data to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on public interest in smoking-related topics with a focus on lockdowns, vaccination campaigns, and incidence.
The weekly relative search volume was retrieved from Google Trends for England, Germany, Italy, and Spain from December 31, 2017, to April 18, 2021. Data were collected for keywords concerning consumption, cessation, and treatment. The relative search volume before and during the pandemic was compared, and general trends were evaluated using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Short-term changes and hereby temporal clusters linked to lockdowns or vaccination campaigns were addressed by the flexible spatial scan statistics proposed by Takahashi and colleagues. Subsequently, the numbers of clusters after the onset of the pandemic were compared by chi-square test.
Country-wise minor differences were observed while 3 overarching trends prevailed. First, regarding cessation, the statistical comparison revealed a significant decline in interest for 58% (7/12) of related keywords, and fewer clusters were present during the pandemic. Second, concerning consumption, significantly reduced relative search volume was observed for 58% (7/12) of keywords, while treatment-related keywords exhibited heterogeneous trends. Third, substantial clusters of increased interest were sparsely linked to lockdowns, vaccination campaigns, or incidence.
This study reports a substantial decline in overall relative search volume and clusters for cessation interest. These results underline the importance of intensifying cessation aid during times of crisis. Lockdowns, vaccination, and incidence had less impact on information-seeking behavior. Other public measures that positively affect smoking behavior remain to be determined.
吸烟是新冠病毒感染的一个可改变的风险因素。疫情期间吸烟行为的证据并不明确。大多数调查显示吸烟率上升。在此背景下，谷歌趋势数据监测实时公众信息搜索行为，因此有助于描述疫情期间与吸烟相关的关注度。
本研究旨在利用谷歌趋势数据评估疫情对公众对吸烟相关话题的兴趣的影响，重点关注封锁、疫苗接种运动和发病率。
从2017年12月31日至2021年4月18日，从谷歌趋势中检索英格兰、德国、意大利和西班牙的每周相对搜索量。收集了有关消费、戒烟和治疗的关键词数据。比较了疫情前和疫情期间的相对搜索量，并使用威尔科克森秩和检验评估总体趋势。高桥及其同事提出的灵活空间扫描统计方法解决了与封锁或疫苗接种运动相关的短期变化及时间聚类问题。随后，通过卡方检验比较疫情爆发后的聚类数量。
观察到各国存在细微差异，但总体上有三个主要趋势。第一，关于戒烟，统计比较显示，58%（7/12）的相关关键词的关注度显著下降，疫情期间出现的聚类较少。第二，关于消费，58%（7/12）的关键词的相对搜索量显著降低，而与治疗相关的关键词呈现出不同的趋势。第三，大量关注度增加的聚类与封锁、疫苗接种运动或发病率的联系较为稀疏。
本研究报告了总体相对搜索量和戒烟关注度聚类的大幅下降。这些结果强调了在危机时期加强戒烟援助的重要性。封锁、疫苗接种和发病率对信息搜索行为的影响较小。其他对吸烟行为有积极影响的公共措施仍有待确定。
