Malaysian public interest in common medical problem: a 10-year Google Trends analysis

Kow, Ren Yi and Mohamad Rafiai, Norfazilah and Ahmad Alwi, Akmal Azim and Low, Chooi Leng and Siron @ Baharom, Khairul Nizam and Zulkifly, Ahmad Hafiz and Zakaria@Mohamad, Zamzuri and Awang, Mohamed Saufi (2022) Malaysian public interest in common medical problem: a 10-year Google Trends analysis. Cureus, 14 (1). pp. 1-7. ISSN 2168-8184

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Abstract

Background An analysis of internet search has been performed to evaluate the public interest in health problems. Google Trends (GT) serves as a free platform to analyse the search traffic for specific terms in the Google search engine. This observational study aims to investigate the trend of Malaysian population in using the Google search engine on common medical problems and explore the geographical influence on the language used. Material and method Fifteen pairs of keywords, in Malay and English language, were chosen after going through forward and backward translation and vetting by a panel of experts. GT data for the selected keywords from 1st of January 2011 to 31st of December 2020 was extracted. Trend analysis was performed using paired t-test between the first half of the decade and the second half of the decade. The different languages used were analysed based on geographical variation using paired t-test. Results The public interest on those keywords was markedly increased in the second half of the decade with 29 out of 30 keywords showing statistically significant difference. Majority of the states preferred to use Malay keywords, especially those residing at the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Conclusion This observational study illustrates the ability of GT to track healthcare interest among Malaysian population. GT provides a good platform to analyse specific healthcare interest in Malaysian population, but investigators have to bear in mind the geographical influence on the language used.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	10427/96333
Uncontrolled Keywords:	language of medicine, public healthcare, Malaysia, google trends healthcare, google trend
Subjects:	R Medicine > RD Surgery R Medicine > RD Surgery > RD701 Orthopedics
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Medicine Kulliyyah of Medicine > Department of Department of Orthopaedics, Traumatology & Rehabilitation Kulliyyah of Medicine > Department of Internal Medicine
Depositing User:	Professor Zamzuri Zakaria
Date Deposited:	19 Jan 2022 08:30
Last Modified:	10 Jan 2024 11:14
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/96333

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