Unveiling global public interest and seasonal patterns of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance: An infodemiology study with implications for public health awareness and intervention strategies

•Public interest leans towards antibiotics over antibiotic resistance, calling for focused education.•COVID-19 amplified antibiotic searches, unveiling access gaps.•Seasonal and local factors shape search trends for antibiotics and resistance.•Internet use drives antibiotic searches, while doctors&#...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of medical informatics (Shannon, Ireland) Ireland), 2023-11, Vol.179, p.105231-105231, Article 105231
Main Authors: Rahul, Radhakrishnan, Maheswary, Datchanamoorthy, Damodharan, Narayanasamy, Leela, K.V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibiotic resistance
Antibiotics
COVID-19
Infodemiology
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Summary:•Public interest leans towards antibiotics over antibiotic resistance, calling for focused education.•COVID-19 amplified antibiotic searches, unveiling access gaps.•Seasonal and local factors shape search trends for antibiotics and resistance.•Internet use drives antibiotic searches, while doctors' availability impacts online health queries. The health-related information-seeking through internet sources has drastically increased throughout the world. This study aimed to analyze the Global public interest on “antibiotics” and “antibiotic resistance”. The worldwide internet trend for the search terms “antibiotics” and “antibiotic resistance” from February 2017 to February 2022 was obtained using Google trends. The seasonal variation of interest was analyzed using the Seasonal Decomposition of Time Series by Loess. The mean interest for the search term “antibiotics” and “antibiotic resistance” is found to be 78.02 ± 7.5 and 2.3 ± 0.8, which will increase at 2.56 % and 16 % per year. It was observed that there was a significant relationship between antibiotic consumption, the number of physicians, and individuals using the internet in the countries with the search term “antibiotics”. The study also indicates that there is a peak in search volume for the term during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Our study observed, that antibiotics related search questions on google by the public indicate the chances of antibiotic misuse. The study data suggest the need to raise public awareness about antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance, as well as there is need for intensive monitoring of dispensing and procurement patterns of antibiotics in developing countries.
ISSN:1386-5056
1872-8243
DOI:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105231