Open AccessGlobal Public Interests and Dynamic Trends in Osteoporosis From 2004 to 2019: Infodemiology Study
Author(s) -
Peng Wang,
Qing Xu,
Rong-Rong Cao,
FeiYan Deng,
ShuFeng Lei
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
jmir. journal of medical internet research/journal of medical internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.446
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1439-4456
pISSN - 1438-8871
DOI - 10.2196/25422
Subject(s) - osteoporosis , public health , medicine , life expectancy , demography , gerontology , population , environmental health , family medicine , pathology , sociology
Background With the prolonging of human life expectancy and subsequent population aging, osteoporosis (OP) has become an important public health issue. Objective This study aimed to understand the global public search interests and dynamic trends in “osteoporosis” using the data derived from Google Trends. Methods An online search was performed using the term “osteoporosis” in Google Trends from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2019, under the category “Health.” Cosinor analysis was used to test the seasonality of relative search volume (RSV) for “osteoporosis.” An analysis was conducted to investigate the public search topic rising in RSV for “osteoporosis.” Results There was a descending trend of global RSV for “osteoporosis” from January 2004 to December 2014, and a slowly increasing trend from January 2015 to December 2019. Cosinor analysis showed significant seasonal variations in global RSV for “osteoporosis” ( P =.01), with a peak in March and a trough in September. In addition, similar decreasing trends of RSV for “osteoporosis” were found in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada from January 2004 to December 2019. Cosinor test revealed significant seasonal variations in RSV for “osteoporosis” in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, UK, and USA (all P <.001). Furthermore, public search rising topics related to “osteoporosis” included denosumab, fracture risk assessment tool, bone density, osteopenia, osteoarthritis, and risk factor. Conclusions Our study provided evidence about the public search interest and dynamic trends in OP using web-based data, which would be helpful for public health and policy making.