Analyzing google search trends for "vaginal estrogen" and its relationship to medical recommendations for...

Nearly half of the women reaching menopause in the United States (US) experience changes to reproductive health and quality of life. Vaginal estrogen is a widely recognized treatment option for menopausal symptoms. Our study aims to investigate public interest through Google search trends and its comparative prevalence in medical literature for postmenopausal women. A retrospective analysis of Google search trends data for the term "vaginal estrogen" and other related words was conducted, and a time series analysis with a 6-month simple moving average and statistical modeling were employed to evaluate the trends and relationships between these variables. Research volume and relevance were measured through PubMed and Google Scholar, respectively, for post-menopausal symptom management. Our results reveal an increasing search interest in "vaginal estrogen" and the number of articles on this treatment option among post-menopausal women. While this study does not point to causation, it suggests a correlation in growing interest in vaginal estrogen from the public and amongst medical researchers. The data underscore that the medical community's endorsement of vaginal estrogen may be fostering greater awareness and acceptance of this therapy for post-menopausal women, or vice versa. Further research is needed to determine its cost-effectiveness and equal accessibility to all patients.