Trends of intrauterine device insertion and ‘Googling’ about intrauterine devices before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

Abstract

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted access to primary care in Australia. This could have negatively impacted reproductive health services rates such as intrauterine device insertion rates, and interest in seeking information about intrauterine devices by searching on Google. We aimed to assess the trends of, and the association between, the actual Medicare service utilization rates for intrauterine device insertion and searching about intrauterine devices on Google, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We conducted systematic analyses of secondary data from June 2017 to May 2022, using Medicare and Google Trends data sources. We visualized the rates of intrauterine device insertion, plus Google's search volumes about ‘Intrauterine device’ and ‘Progestin IUDs’ as topics. Then, we assessed the correlation between intrauterine device insertion rates and Google search, using Spearman correlation. Results The average yearly rates of intrauterine device insertion increased noticeably from 25.1–26.3 in 2018–2019 to 29.3–31.2 per 100,000 population in 2020–2021 (12–18% increase). The highest monthly intrauterine device insertion rate nationally (37 per 100,000 population) was seen in March 2021. By June 2020, search term use for the two intrauterine device-related topics returned to much higher levels (50% increase for ‘Progestin IUDs’, and 54% for ‘Intrauterine device’, respectively). A moderately strong correlation was seen between actual intrauterine device insertion rates and search on Google about intrauterine devices (Spearman rho = 0.61, p < 0.000). Conclusion We demonstrated a moderately strong correlation between trends of intrauterine device insertion rates and search on Google about intrauterine devices, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Googling about intrauterine devices could, therefore, be a useful indicator to gauge future interest in actual intrauterine device insertion for months thereafter.