[Trends in Google searches on complementary and alternative medicine]

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) encompasses a wide range of health practices.
• Understanding public interest in CAM is crucial for public health planning and resource allocation.
• Geographic and temporal variations in CAM interest necessitate ongoing monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the evolving public interest in various Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies.
• To analyze search trends of CAM therapies in Spanish-speaking countries using Google Trends data.
• To explore potential correlations between CAM therapy interest and socioeconomic factors like Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Main Methods:

• An observational study utilizing Google Trends data.
• Analysis of global and country-specific search volumes for 34 CAM therapies in Spanish.
• Spearman's rank correlation test to assess the relationship between popular CAM search medians and per capita GDP.

Main Results:

• A declining search trend was observed for homeopathy, herbal medicine, acupuncture, and sensory therapies.
• Chiropractic therapies demonstrated an increasing search trend.
• No significant association was found between per capita GDP and the median search volume for popular CAM therapies (p = 0.432).

Conclusions:

• Public interest in CAM therapies exhibits significant temporal and geographic variability.
• Further in-depth research is required to understand these variations.
• Findings can inform the development of an international monitoring system for CAM therapy utilization.