Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 16, 2025

A Method of Trigonometric Modelling of Seasonal Variation Demonstrated with Multiple Sclerosis Relapse Data
Published on: December 9, 2015
Google Trends and Seasonal Effects in Infodemiology: A Use Case About Obesity
Angelo Basteris1, Marjan Mansourvar1, Uffe Kock Wiil1
1Health Informatics and Technology, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Abstract:
Google Trends is a free online tool that provides information on the interest on a topic measured as Google searches in the big data era. In this work, we present methods for detection of trends and seasonal effects in online interest for health topics based on Google Trends data. We present data for the term obesity worldwide and in a convenience sample of countries (Denmark, United Kingdom, USA, Japan) over the last five years. Our analysis shows that, despite obesity being one of the global health challenges, there is a decreasing trend in online interest in the topic. We also observed seasonal effects, with less interest for the topic during December and the summer months. Identifying trends and seasonal patterns in online interest can support resource allocation and planning and allows one to evaluate the effectiveness of global and local outreach efforts on public health.
More Related Videos
08:01A Method for Manipulating Blood Glucose and Measuring Resulting Changes in Cognitive Accessibility of Target Stimuli
Published on: August 12, 2016
03:35Determining Gender-Based Differences in Retinal and Choroidal Thickness in Underweight Individuals via Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography
Published on: December 1, 2023
Related Concept Videos
Obesity
Bias in Epidemiological Studies
Statistical Methods for Analyzing Epidemiological Data
Introduction to Epidemiology
Regression Toward the Mean
Causality in Epidemiology