Correlating regional emergency epistaxis visits with internet search activity

Am J Otolaryngol. 2018 Nov-Dec;39(6):685-687. doi: 10.1016/j.amjoto.2018.07.012. Epub 2018 Jul 19.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the correlation between internet search activity and epistaxis-related Emergency Department visits.

Materials and methods: Data from Google Trends were obtained (www.google.com/trends) for the search term "nosebleed" in Erie County, Pennsylvania during a five-year period. All epistaxis-related CPT code events were obtained from one hospital in this county during the same period. Google total counts were cross tabulated with the following month's ED visits. Graphical analysis and correlation were used to assess the relationship between ED visits and search engine activity.

Results: A strong positive correlation was observed between epistaxis-related ED visits and search engine activity for the term "nosebleed" (r = 0.655).

Conclusion: Search engine activities for the term "nosebleed" correlates strongly with epistaxis-related ED visits. This study demonstrates the usefulness of utilizing Google Trends search data to assess regional disease burdens, which may provide a means for epidemiological study that is quicker than conventional methods.

Keywords: Epistaxis; Epistaxis burden; Google trends; Nosebleed.

MeSH terms

  • Emergency Service, Hospital / statistics & numerical data*
  • Epistaxis*
  • Facilities and Services Utilization / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Internet / statistics & numerical data*
  • Pennsylvania
  • Search Engine / statistics & numerical data*