The effect of breast cancer awareness month on internet search activity - a comparison with awareness campaigns for lung and prostate cancer

Glynn, Ronan W; Kelly, John; Coffey, Norma; Sweeney, Karl; Kerin, Michael J.

doi:10.1186/1471-2407-11-442

Cited by 97 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The application has also been applied in the assessment of outbreaks of salmonella and gastroenteritis and for predicting the annual incidence of Dengue fever [ 13,14 ] . More recently, the application has been effectively utilized to record increases in Internet search activity for the term ' breast cancer ' every October in concordance with breast cancer awareness campaigns that occur during this month annually [ 9 ] . These recent studies highlight the effectiveness of the Internet and its applications as a reliable means for gathering accurate national and international data on health-seeking behaviour among the general public [ 15 ] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ASSESSMENT OF ' SEARCH-VOLUME ' OVER TIME Google Insights for Search is a ' searchvolume ' tool providing information on Internet searches that generate a signifi cant volume of results [ 8,9 ] . Data are normalized to a reference population and scaled from 0% to 100%.…”

Section: Overview Of Study Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data are normalized to a reference population and scaled from 0% to 100%. Peak search activity over a given period is graded as 100% and activity at all other time periods is presented relative to that peak [ 9 ] .…”

Section: Overview Of Study Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detecting internet activity for erectile dysfunction using search engine query data in the Republic of Ireland

2012

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What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?Despite the increasing prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED), there is reluctance among symptomatic patients to present to healthcare providers for appropriate advice and treatment.A number of Internet campaigns have been launched by the Irish healthcare media since 2007 aiming to provide easily accessible advice on ED. Novel online technologies appear to provide a useful tool for educating the general public on the symptoms of ED because there has been a significant increase in overall Internet search activity for this term since 2007.OBJECTIVES To assess Internet search trends for erectile dysfunction (ED) subsequent to public awareness campaigns being launched within the Republic of Ireland To assess whether the advent of such campaigns correlates with increased Internet search activity for ED. MATERIALS AND METHODS Google insights for search was utilized to examine Internet search trends for the term ‘erectile dysfunction’ across all categories between January 2005 and December 2011. Search activity was limited to users from the Republic of Ireland within this timeframe. Additionally, the number of Irish Internet media campaigns and Irish web pages providing information on ED was assessed between January 2005 and December 2011. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using analysis of variance and Student's t‐tests for pairwise comparisons. RESULTS There has been a significant increase in mean search activity for ED on an annual basis since 2007 (P < 0.001). The number of Irish web pages associated with information on ED has also increased significantly on an annual basis since 2007 (P < 0.001). There have been seven different Irish Internet media campaigns on ED since 2007 compared to two from 2005 to 2007 (P < 0.001). There was no significant change in mean search activity for ED from 2005 to 2007 CONCLUSIONS The advent of recent Internet media campaigns and increasing number of Irish web pages is associated with a significant increase in online activity for ED in the Republic of Ireland. Novel online technologies appear to provide a useful tool for educating the general public on the symptoms and treatment options available for ED.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overview Of Study Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detecting internet activity for erectile dysfunction using search engine query data in the Republic of Ireland

2012

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“…Cancer-related searches for information increased during a breast cancer awareness campaign. 68 Potentially, improvements in diagnosis could be observed in a better-informed population, thus improving the survival of those diagnosed with a variety of different cancers.…”

Section: [H2] Symptom Awareness Campaignsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving early diagnosis of symptomatic cancer

Hamilton

Walter

Rubin³

et al. 2016

Nat Rev Clin Oncol

105

125

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| Much time, effort and investment goes into the diagnosis of symptomatic cancer, with the expectation that this approach brings clinical benefits. This investment of resources has been particularly noticeable in the UK, which has, for several years, appeared near the bottom of international league tables for cancer survival in economically developed countries. This Review examines expedited diagnosis of cancer from four perspectives. The first examines the potential for benefits from expedited diagnosis of symptomatic cancer. Limited evidence from clinical trials is available, but the considerable observational evidence suggests benefits can be obtained from this approach. The second perspective considers how expedited diagnosis can be achieved. We concentrate on data from the UK, where extensive awareness campaigns have been conducted, and initiatives in primary care, including clinical decision support, have all occurred during a period of considerable national policy change. The third section considers the most appropriate patients for cancer investigations, and the possible community settings for this. UK national guidance for selection of patients for investigation is discussed. Finally, the health economics of the subject are reviewed, although few studies provide definitive evidence on this topic.In all developed countries, much time, effort and finance is spent on the diagnosis of cancer.

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“…We were unable to obtain timely data on monthly incidence and mortality rates of all cancers in China and we only used the annual incidence and mortality rate to replace the monthly incidence and mortality rates. As some diseases are more affected by other factors, when analyzing the correlation, it is also hard to use this method because some diseases are affected by public health activities [25].…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association Between Cancer Incidence and Mortality in Web-Based Data in China: Infodemiology Study (Preprint)

Xu¹,

Wang²,

Yang³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Background: Cancers pose a serious threat to health of Chinese people, resulting in a immense challenge to public health work. Nowadays, people could get related information not only from medical workers in hospitals, but also retrieve on Internet everywhere in real-time. Online search behaviors can reflect population's awareness on cancers from a completely new perspective, which could be driven by underlying cancer epidemiology. Objective: The objective of our study was mainly to explore whether there was a correlation among incidence and mortaliy of cancers and online search behaviors. A secondary objective was to predict future incidence and mortality of theses cancers if the correlation was existed. Methods: We used standard Boolean operators to choose search terms of each cancer. We used Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to validate the correlation among monthly search index values of each cancer type and their monthly incidence and mortality rates. ARIMA model and linear regression model were simultaneously used to predict incidence and mortality of these cancers in future. Results: Monthly search index values statistically significantly correlated with cancer incidence rates in 26 of 28 cancers in China, ( lung cancer: r=.80, P<.001;

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The effect of breast cancer awareness month on internet search activity - a comparison with awareness campaigns for lung and prostate cancer

Cited by 97 publications

References 33 publications

Detecting internet activity for erectile dysfunction using search engine query data in the Republic of Ireland

Detecting internet activity for erectile dysfunction using search engine query data in the Republic of Ireland

Improving early diagnosis of symptomatic cancer

Association Between Cancer Incidence and Mortality in Web-Based Data in China: Infodemiology Study (Preprint)

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