ArticleJMIR public health and surveillance2017
Health Care Professionals' Evidence-Based Medicine Internet Searches Closely Mimic the Known Seasonal Variation of Lyme Borreliosis: A Register-Based Study.
Article in JMIR public health and surveillance, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Persistence and Variation of the Indirect Effects of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Spectrum of Notifiable Infectious Diseases in China: Analysis of National Surveillance Among Children and Adolescents From 2018 to 2021.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Detecting epinephrine auto-injector shortages in Finland 2016-2022: Log-data analysis of online information seeking.PloS one · 2024Article
- Improving Surveillance of Human Tick-Borne Disease Risks: Spatial Analysis Using Multimodal Databases.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Article
- Analyzing Citizens' and Health Care Professionals' Searches for Smell/Taste Disorders and Coronavirus in Finland During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Infodemiological Approach Using Database Logs.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2021Article
- Healthcare professionals' queries on oseltamivir and influenza in Finland 2011-2016-Can we detect influenza epidemics with specific online searches?Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2019Article
- Big Data's Role in Precision Public Health.Frontiers in public health · 2018Review
- Health Information-Seeking Patterns of the General Public and Indications for Disease Surveillance: Register-Based Study Using Lyme Disease.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBoth health care professionals and nonprofessionals seek medical information on the Internet. Using Web-based search engine searches to detect epidemic diseases has, however, been problematic. Physician's databases (PD) is a chargeable evidence-based medicine (EBM) portal on the Internet for health care professionals and is available throughout the entire health care system in Finland. Lyme borreliosis (LB), a well-defined disease model, shows temporal and regional variation in Finland. Little data exist on health care professionals' searches from Internet-based EBM databases in public health surveillance.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to assess whether health care professionals' use of Internet EBM databases could describe seasonal increases of the disease and supplement routine public health surveillance.
methodsTwo registers, PD and the register of primary health care diagnoses (Avohilmo), were used to compare health care professionals' Internet searches on LB from EBM databases and national register-based LB diagnoses in order to evaluate annual and regional variations of LB in the whole country and in three selected high-incidence LB regions in Finland during 2011-2015.
resultsBoth registers, PD and Avohilmo, show visually similar patterns in annual and regional variation of LB in Finland and in the three high-incidence LB regions during 2011-2015.
conclusionsHealth care professionals' Internet searches from EBM databases coincide with national register diagnoses of LB. PD searches showed a clear seasonal variation. In addition, notable regional differences were present in both registers. However, physicians' Internet medical searches should be considered as a supplementary source of information for disease surveillance.
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