Peaks in online inquiries into pharyngitis-related symptoms correspond with annual incidence rates
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MISCELLANEOUS
Peaks in online inquiries into pharyngitis‑related symptoms correspond with annual incidence rates Faris F. Brkic1 · Gerold Besser1 · Stefan Janik1 · Anselm J. Gadenstaetter1 · Thomas Parzefall1 · Dominik Riss1 · David T. Liu1 Received: 4 August 2020 / Accepted: 8 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Objective To assess whether web-based public inquiries into pharyngitis-related search terms follow annual incidence peaks of acute pharyngitis in various countries from both hemispheres. Methods Google Trends (GT) was utilized for systematic acquisition of pharyngitis-related search terms (sore throat, cough, fever, cold). Six countries from both hemispheres including four English (United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Australia) and two non-English speaking countries (Austria and Germany) were selected for further analysis. Time series data on relative search interest for pharyngitis-related search terms, covering a timeframe between 2004 and 2019 were extracted. Following reliability analysis using the intra-class correlation coefficient, the cosinor time series analysis was utilized to determine annual peaks in public-inquiries. Results The extracted datasets of GT proved to be highly reliable with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.83 to 1.0. Graphical visualization showed annual seasonal peaks for pharyngitis-related search terms in all included countries. The cosinor time series analysis revealed these peaks to be statistically significant during winter months (all p
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