Seasonal Variations in Public Inquiries into Laryngitis: An Infodemiology Study

Abstract

Objectives. Acute laryngitis is a common disease with self-limiting nature. Since the leading cause is attributed to viral infections and thus self-limiting, many affected individuals do not seek professional medical help. However, because the major symptom of hoarseness imposes a substantial burden in everyday life, it might be speculated that web-based search interest on this condition follows incidence rates, with highest peaks during winter months. The aim of this study was to evaluate global public health-information seeking behaviour on laryngitis-related search terms. Methods. We utilized Google Trends to assess country-specific, representative laryngitis-related search terms for English and non-English speaking countries of both hemispheres. Extracted time series data from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, covering a timeframe between 2004 and 2019 were first assessed for reliability, followed by seasonality analysis using the cosinor model. Results. Direct comparisons revealed different, representative laryngitis-related search terms for English-and non-English speaking countries. Extracted data showed a trend of higher reliability in countries with more inhabitants. Subsequent graphical analysis revealed winter peaks in all countries from both hemispheres. Cosinor analysis confirmed these seasonal variations to be significant (all P < 0.001). Conclusion.Public interest in laryngitis-related, online health information displayed seasonal variations in countries from both hemispheres, with highest interest during winter months. These findings emphasize the importance to optimize the distribution of reliable, web-based health education in order to prevent the spread of misinformation and to improve health literacy among general populations.

Peaks in online inquiries into pharyngitis-related symptoms correspond with annual incidence rates

“…It allows analysis of search-query volume (frequency) for search terms that were entered on Google web search. These searches can be grouped for geographical location, timeframe (dating back to 2004), category, and subject [ 9 , 10 ]. The search frequency is displayed as the relative search volume (RSV), indicating the interest for a specified search-term.…”

“…Furthermore, GT allows comparing the RSV of up to five different search-terms. Moreover, the “Related Queries” option of GT allows the exploration of search terms that users entered after searching for the targeted keyword [ 9 ].…”

“…To assess and illustratively depict seasonal variations of global RSV for pharyngitis-related search terms, we included countries from both hemispheres. In line with previous studies, we selected Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA) as English-speaking countries from both hemispheres [ 9 , 10 ]. We selected Germany and Austria as non-English speaking countries from the northern hemisphere.…”

“…In addition, we compared all related inquiries with one another to depict the five most relevant search terms. Since previous studies provided evidence that GT-data from countries with a lower number of inhabitants are less reliable [ 9 , 10 ], we entered the five above-mentioned search terms on seven consecutive days for each country included, starting from April 22nd 2020. GT searches were specified for the following parameters: timeframe between January 1st, 2004 until December 31st, 2019 and “health” category.…”

“…It involves the analysis of online search patterns to gain more insight on human behavior to inform medical professionals [ 9 ]. Indeed, several medical reports assessed the seasonality of different symptoms and diseases, such as tinnitus, epistaxis, laryngitis or dengue fever using GT [ 9 – 15 ]. However, up to now, literature has been sparse on web-based inquiries regarding acute pharyngitis or its most common symptoms.…”