Public interest in drug-related problems reflected in information search trends: an infodemiological study.

Autor: Martínez-Aguilar L; Pharmaceutical Research Group of the University of Granada, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Granada, Spain., Sanz-Lorente M; Center of Public Health, Consellería of Universal Health and Public Health, Valencia, Manises, Spain., Martínez-Martínez F; Pharmaceutical Research Group of the University of Granada, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Granada, Spain., Faus MJ; Pharmaceutical Research Group of the University of Granada, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Granada, Spain., Sanz-Valero J; Carlos III Health Institute, National School of Occupational Medicine, Madrid, Spain. fj.sanz@isciii.es.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Daru : journal of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences [Daru] 2024 Dec; Vol. 32 (2), pp. 537-547. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 18.
DOI: 10.1007/s40199-024-00519-w
Abstrakt: Background: The analysis of how people search and "navigate" the internet to obtain health-related information and how they communicate and share this information can provide valuable knowledge about the disease patterns behaviour and health habits of populations.
Objective: To determine the population's interest in drug-related problems through information search trends.
Method: A descriptive ecological correlational study, based on obtaining Google Trends data.
Variables Studied: relative search volume (RSV), evolution over time, milestones and seasonality.
Results: The most searched topic was drug overdose, with mean RSV of 56.25 ± 0.65. The highest increase occurred in the contraindication topic (R 2  = 0.87, p < 0.001). The main milestone was observed in the drug overdose topic in July 2018 (RSV = 100). A very close relationship was found between adverse drug reaction and contraindication (R = 0.89, p < 0.001). Slight seasonality was noted in the adverse drug reaction (augmented Dickey-Fuller test [ADF] = -1.96), contraindication (ADF = -2.66) and drug interaction (ADF = -1.67) topics, but did not show an epidemiological trend.
Conclusions: The greatest public interest was found in the drug overdose and contraindication topics, which showed a stronger upward trend, although the seasonality study did not show any very notable data or demonstrate epidemiological information search behaviour. The main milestone observed was due to media factors related to the consumption of narcotics. There was a clear difference in English-speaking countries in the use of the drug overdose topic. A correlation between the adverse drug reaction and contraindication topics was confirmed.
Competing Interests: Declarations Conflict of interest The first author, on behalf of herself and all her fellow authors, declares that there are no potential conflicts of interest related to this article.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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