Why do people Google epilepsy? An infodemiological study of online behavior for epilepsy-related search terms
Why do people Google epilepsy? An infodemiological study of online behavior for epilepsy-related search terms
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.yebeh.2013.11.020
复制
发表时间：
2014-02-01
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Trinka, Eugen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brigo, Francesco;Igwe, Stanley C.;Trinka, Eugen
全世界每天有数百万人使用互联网作为健康信息的来源。谷歌是最受欢迎的搜索引擎，被患者和医生用来搜索在线健康相关信息。这项研究旨在评估随着时间的推移，英语国家在搜索与癫痫和癫痫发作相关的术语时网络搜索行为的变化。使用Google Trends，分析了2004年1月至2013年9月期间以“癫痫”、“癫痫”和“癫痫”为关键词的全球搜索查询数据。随着时间的推移，“癫痫”(以及较小程度的“癫痫”)搜索量的减少被“癫痫”一词搜索量的增加所抵消。大多数与搜索查询相关的词语都与癫痫的症状有关，特别是强直阵挛发作，以及发生在儿童身上的癫痫。在研究期间，搜索量的三个峰值对应于名人癫痫发作的消息。随着时间的推移，“癫痫SUDEP”一词的搜索量被发现有了极大的增加。大多数人似乎使用搜索引擎来查找与癫痫相关的术语，以获得有关癫痫症状的信息，这可能有助于初步的自我诊断。对癫痫发作的恐惧和担忧以及患有癫痫的名人的新闻似乎是影响在线搜索行为的主要因素。(C)2013 Elsevier Inc.保留所有权利。
Millions of people world wide use the Internet daily as a source of health information. Google is the most popular search engine and is used by patients and physicians to search for online health-related information. This study aimed to evaluate changes in web search behavior occurring in English-speaking countries over time for terms related to epilepsy and epileptic seizures. Using Google Trends, data on global search queries for the terms "epilepsy", "seizure", and "seizures" between January 2004 and September 2013 were analyzed. The reduction over time in search queries for the term "epilepsy" (and, to a lesser extent, "seizures") was counterbalanced by an increased trend in searches for the term "seizure". Most terms associated with the search queries were related to symptoms of seizures, especially tonic-clonic seizures, and to seizures occurring in children. Three peaks in search volume over the period studied corresponded to news of celebrities having seizures. The volume of searches for the term "epilepsy SUDEP" was found to be enormously increased over time. Most people appear to use search engines to look for terms related to epilepsy to obtain information on seizure symptoms, possibly to aid initial self-diagnosis. Fears and worries about epileptic seizures and news on celebrities with epilepsy seem to be major factors that influence online search behavior. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.