Measuring the impact of health policies using Internet search patterns: the case of abortion.
Measuring the impact of health policies using Internet search patterns: the case of abortion.
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DOI：
10.1186/1471-2458-10-514
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发表时间：
2010-08-25
影响因子：
4.5
通讯作者：
Brownstein JS
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Reis BY;Brownstein JS
互联网搜索模式已成为监测传染病趋势的一种新的数据来源。我们建议，这些数据也可以更广泛地用于以更有效和及时的方式研究不同地区卫生政策的影响。作为一个测试用例，我们研究了与堕胎相关的搜索量、当地堕胎率和当地堕胎政策之间的关系。我们的初步综合分析发现，在美国和国际上，互联网上对堕胎的搜索量与当地堕胎率成反比，与当地对堕胎的限制成正比。这些调查结果与已公布的证据一致，即当地对堕胎的限制导致个人在其地区以外寻求堕胎服务。这些方法的进一步验证有可能产生一个及时的，互补的数据源，研究卫生政策的影响。
Internet search patterns have emerged as a novel data source for monitoring infectious disease trends. We propose that these data can also be used more broadly to study the impact of health policies across different regions in a more efficient and timely manner. As a test use case, we studied the relationships between abortion-related search volume, local abortion rates, and local abortion policies available for study. Our initial integrative analysis found that, both in the US and internationally, the volume of Internet searches for abortion is inversely proportional to local abortion rates and directly proportional to local restrictions on abortion. These findings are consistent with published evidence that local restrictions on abortion lead individuals to seek abortion services outside of their area. Further validation of these methods has the potential to produce a timely, complementary data source for studying the effects of health policies.