Interest in Online Tobacco Cessation Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic in India- insights from Google Trends

With concerns about higher mortality and morbidity attributed to COVID-19 infection among tobacco users, the pandemic has been an opportune time to further our efforts towards tobacco cessation. The present study thus aims to assess the interest in tobacco cessation services during the pandemic.

An ecological study was done using data from Google Trends for five years. The trends depicting the interest in internet search terms like "Quit-tobacco" and "Quitline" were retrieved and compared over the study period and with the Global Adult Tobacco Survey-India (GATS-II) data estimates (2016-17). The results were reported using descriptive statistics and line graphs.

Between 2017 and 21, the search interest regarding quitting tobacco depicted the highest peak corresponding to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were significant geographical disparities in the Google searches made across India. As per GATS-II, only 0.2% of the smokers had used a Quitline, corresponding to a smaller peak in Google Trends. Interest in "Quitline" compared to "quit tobacco" was in a ratio of 1:11, and the gap increased further during the pandemic by 1:12.

We observed an increasing interest in the searches related to "Quit-tobacco" like terms during the pandemic but an increasing gap in the interest around the "Quitline" searches. The present study hypothesizes that the pandemic increased concerns regarding tobacco, leading to a higher interest in tobacco cessation services, thus calling for a proactive approach to propagate 'Quitline' through generous advocacy to have efficient tobacco control per the National Tobacco Control Program.