Differences in reporting the ragweed pollen season using Google Trends across 15 countries
Background: Google Trends (GT) searches trends of specific queries in Google, which potentially reflect the real-life epidemiology of allergic rhinitis. We compared GT terms related to ragweed pollen allergy in American and European Union countries with a known ragweed pollen season. Our aim was to assess seasonality and the terms needed to perform the GT searches and to compare these during the spring and summer pollen seasons. Methods: We examined GT queries from January 1, 2011, to January 4, 2017. We included 15 countries with a known ragweed pollen season and used the standard 5-year GT graphs. We used the GT translation for all countries and the untranslated native terms for each country. Results: The results of "pollen," "ragweed," and "allergy" searches differed between countries, but "ragweed" was clearly identified in 12 of the 15 countries. There was considerable heterogeneity of findings when the GT translation was used. For Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia, the GT translation was inappropriate. The country patterns of "pollen," "hay fever," and "allergy" differed in 8 of the 11 countries with identified "ragweed" queries during the spring and the summer, indicating that the perception of tree and grass pollen allergy differs from that of ragweed pollen. Conclusions: To investigate ragweed pollen allergy using GT, the term "ragweed" as a plant is required and the translation of "ragweed" in the native language needed.
© 2018 S. Karger
2018
2020-11-20 14:10:50
1033
allergy and immunology, allergens, seasonal allergic rhinitis, rhinitis, pollen, ambrosia, Google Trends, hay fever
alergija in imunologija, alergeni, sezonski alergijski rinitis, rinitis, pelod, ambrozija, seneni nahod
Karger
Jean
Bousquet
70
Ioana
Agache
70
Uwe
Berger
70
Karl-Christian
Bergmann
70
Jean-Pierre
Besancenot
70
Philippe J.
Bousquet
70
Thomas
Casale
70
Gennaro
d'Amato
70
Igor
Kaidashev
70
Musa
Khaitov
70
Ralph
Mösges
70
Kristof
Nekam
70
Gabrielle L.
Onorato
70
Davor
Plavec
70
Aziz
Sheikh
70
Michel
Thibaudon
70
Robert
Vautard
70
Mihaela
Zidarn
70
UDK
4
616-097
ISSN pri članku
9
1423-0097
DOI
15
10.1159/000488391
COBISS_ID
3
2048319601
OceCobissID
13
521425945
0
Izvorni URL
2020-11-20 14:10:54