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Increasing utility of Google Trends in monitoring cardiovascular disease
Conor Senecal1, Madeline Mahowald1, Lilach Lerman2
1Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic and College of Medicine, USA.
Insights
Online searches for cardiovascular diseases and risk factors strongly correlate with hospitalization data across U.S. states. This connection has grown stronger over time, highlighting Google Trends as a valuable public health tool.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Digital Health Analytics
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.
- Internet searches for health information, including CVD and its risk factors, are increasingly common.
- Understanding the relationship between public online search behavior and CVD burden is crucial for public health surveillance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the evolving state-by-state correlation between cardiovascular disease prevalence/hospitalizations and Google Trends search volumes.
- To assess the correlation between major cardiovascular risk factors and online search interest over time.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data (2006-2018) for CVD hospitalizations and risk factor prevalence.
- Obtained corresponding Google Trends search volume data for the same conditions and time periods.
- Employed simple linear regression to analyze the change in correlation over the study duration.
Main Results:
- Strong correlations were observed between online search data and hospitalizations for six CVD conditions (e.g., myocardial infarction R=0.70, stroke R=0.62).
- All studied CVD conditions demonstrated a significant positive increase in correlation with search volumes over time.
- Five key CVD risk factors (diabetes, smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity) showed strong correlations with search data, with three exhibiting increasing trends.
Conclusions:
- State-level cardiovascular disease prevalence and hospitalizations are strongly linked to U.S. online search volumes.
- This association has shown a consistent strengthening or stable trend in recent years.
- Google Trends emerges as a powerful and increasingly relevant tool for monitoring the burden of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors.
Introduction:
Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Patients are increasingly using internet search to find health-related information, including searches for cardiovascular diseases and risk factors. We sought to evaluate the change in the state by state correlation of cardiovascular disease and risk factors with Google Trends search volumes.
Methods:
Data on cardiovascular disease hospitalizations and risk factor prevalence were obtained from the publically available Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website from 2006 to 2018. Google Trends data were obtained for matching conditions and time periods. Simple linear regression was performed to evaluate for an increase in correlation over time.
Results:
Hospitalizations for six separate cardiovascular disease conditions showed moderate to strong correlation with online search data in the last period studied (heart failure (0.58, p < .001), atrial fibrillation (0.57, p < .001), coronary heart disease (0.58, p < .001), myocardial infarction (0.70, p < .001), stroke (0.62, p < .001), cardiac dysrhythmia (0.46, p < .001)) in the United States. All diseases studied showed a positive increase in correlation throughout the time period studied (p < .05). All five of the cardiovascular risk factors studied showed strong correlation with online search data; diabetes (R = 0.78, p < .001), cigarette use (R = 0.79, p < .001), hypertension (R = 0.81, p < .001), high cholesterol (R = 0.59, p < .001), and obesity (p = 0.80, p < .001) in the United States. Three of the five risk factors showed an increasing correlation over time.
Conclusion:
The prevalence of and hospitalizations for cardiovascular conditions in the United States strongly correlate with online search volumes in the United States when analyzed by state. This relationship has progressively strengthened or been strong and stable over recent years for these conditions. Google Trends represents an increasingly valuable tool for evaluating the burden of cardiovascular disease and risk factors in the United States.
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