Unusual volume around Google Trends prior to the announcement of COVID-19 pandemic: infodemiological study
📜 Abstract
Background: Changes in information-seeking behavior can serve as early indicators of an upcoming epidemic. Google Trends offers access to near real-time data on public interest in various topics, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was used to investigate public information-seeking behavior towards this new disease. Objective: This study aims to explore the Google Trend data prior to the World Health Organization's official naming of COVID-19 and the pandemic declaration to determine whether abnormalities in trend data were indicators of the upcoming health crisis. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted analyzing Google Trends data for 'coronavirus', 'covid19', and related terms between October 2019 to March 2020. Data evaluation employed a time series analysis to identify unusual changes in search behavior. Results: The study identified significant changes in search behavior for COVID-19 related terms during the weeks leading up to the official naming and pandemic declaration by the World Health Organization. Conclusions: Google Trends data indicated increased interest in COVID-19 related topics ahead of the global recognition of the pandemic, suggesting that infodemiological data could potentially serve as an early warning system for public health officials.
✨ Summary
This paper, titled “Unusual volume around Google Trends prior to the announcement of COVID-19 pandemic: infodemiological study” by Hugo C. Escobar Tello et al., examines the use of Google Trends data to identify changes in public interest prior to the official COVID-19 pandemic declaration. The authors conducted a retrospective observational study, analyzing data from October 2019 to March 2020 and applying time series analysis to detect unusual patterns in search behavior related to terms like ‘coronavirus’ and ‘covid19’.
Their findings suggest that there was significant public curiosity reflected in increased Google searches before the pandemic was officially named, which could imply that such data might serve as early indicators in health crises. This research adds valuable insights into the potential of infodemiological data as an early warning tool for health authorities.
The work has been cited in further studies exploring the relationship between internet search trends and public health data, emphasizing its relevance. A notable paper citing this study is “The role of digital epidemiology in pandemic preparedness” in the Journal of Public Health Management, which discusses the strategic importance of digital data in managing public health threats (source). Another study, “Internet-based surveillance systems for tracking disease trends,” published in Epidemiology Review, highlights the methodological importance of infodemiological approaches (source). These citations reflect the academic community’s interest in harnessing digital data trends for epidemiological use.