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Related Experiment Videos

Estimating suicide occurrence statistics using Google Trends.

Ladislav Kristoufek1,2, Helen Susannah Moat1, Tobias Preis1

  • 11Data Science Lab, Behavioural Science, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL UK.

EPJ Data Science
|May 2, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Online Google search data can improve suicide estimates. Increased searches for "depression" correlate with fewer suicides, while "suicide" searches indicate more occurrences, offering timely insights.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Digital Epidemiology
  • Data Science

Background:

  • Official suicide statistics have a significant time lag of approximately two years.
  • Real-time indicators are needed to supplement delayed official data.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if Google search data can enhance real-time suicide occurrence estimations in England.
  • To analyze the relationship between Google search volumes for 'depression' and 'suicide' and actual suicide numbers.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of Google search data for 'depression' and 'suicide' from 2004-2013.
  • Correlation and regression analysis with official suicide occurrence data for England.
  • Development of improved estimation models incorporating online search behavior.
Keywords:
Google Trendsnowcastingofficial statisticssearch data

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Main Results:

  • Google search data significantly improved suicide occurrence estimations compared to using historical data alone.
  • Higher search volumes for 'depression' were associated with lower suicide occurrences.
  • Increased search volumes for 'suicide' were correlated with higher suicide occurrences.

Conclusions:

  • Online search behavior, specifically Google searches for 'depression' and 'suicide', provides a valuable, timely proxy for suicide occurrences.
  • Integrating digital data sources can lead to more accurate and responsive public health surveillance for suicide.