ArticleClinical rheumatology2017
What do people search online concerning the "elusive" fibromyalgia? Insights from a qualitative and quantitative analysis of Google Trends.
Article in Clinical rheumatology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessment of the Artificial Intelligence- Generated Fibromyalgia Information: Beyond the Hype.Archives of rheumatology · 2025Article
- Investigation of patients' understanding of fibromyalgia: Results from an online qualitative survey.Patient education and counseling · 2024Article
- Public interest in musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic : Infodemiology study.Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2022Article
- Seasonality of Back Pain in Italy: An Infodemiology Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- How good is online information on fibromyalgia? An analysis of quality and readability of websites on fibromyalgia in Spanish.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Use of Complementary and Integrative Therapies by Fibromyalgia Patients: A 14-Year Follow-up Study.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes · 2019Article
- An infodemiological investigation of the so-called "Fluad effect" during the 2014/2015 influenza vaccination campaign in Italy: Ethical and historical implications.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fibromyalgia is a chronic disease, characterized by pain, fatigue, and poor sleep quality. Patients and mainly those with chronic diseases tend to search for health-related material online. Google Trends (GT), an online tracking system of Internet hit-search volumes that recently merged with its sister project Google Insights for Search (Google Inc.), was used to explore Internet activity related to fibromyalgia. Digital interest in fibromyalgia and related topics searched worldwide has been reported in the last 13 years. A slight decline in this interest has been observed through the years, remaining stable in the last 5 years. Fibromyalgia web behavior exhibited a regular, cyclic pattern, even though no seasonality could be detected. Similar findings have been reported among rheumatoid arthritis and depression. However, differently from rheumatoid arthritis and depression, the focus of the fibromyalgia-related queries was more concentrated on drug side effects and the "elusive" nature of fibromyalgia: is it a real or imaginary condition? Does it really exist or is it all in your head? A tremendous amount of information on fibromyalgia and related topics exist online. Still many queries have been raised and repeated constantly by fibromyalgia patients in the last 13 years. Therefore, physicians should be aware of the common concerns of people or patients regarding fibromyalgia in order to give a proper answers and education.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.