ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2018
Internet searches for opioids predict future emergency department heroin admissions.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- Artificial intelligence in HIV research, policy, and clinical care.The lancet. HIV · 2026Review
- Invited commentary: motivating better methods-and better data collection-for measuring the prevalence of drug misuse.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Internet search patterns for psychoactive substance use prevention and treatment in Mexico: A cross-sectional study.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2023Article
- Potential Effects of Digital Inequality on Treatment Seeking for Opioid Use Disorder.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2023Article
- Characterizing Help-Seeking Searches for Substance Use Treatment From Google Trends and Assessing Their Use for Infoveillance: Longitudinal Descriptive and Validation Statistical Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- An Exploratory Examination of Social Media Use and Risky Sexual Practices: A Profile of Women in Rural Appalachia Who Use Drugs.AIDS and behavior · 2022Article
- Spatiotemporal Mapping of Online Interest in Cannabis and Popular Psychedelics before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Digital Public Health Surveillance Tools for Alcohol Use and HIV Risk Behaviors.AIDS and behavior · 2021Article
- Machine learning takes a village: Assessing neighbourhood-level vulnerability for an overdose and infectious disease outbreak.The International journal on drug policy · 2021Article
- Methodological approaches for the prediction of opioid use-related epidemics in the United States: a narrative review and cross-disciplinary call to action.Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Internet search and medicaid prescription drug data as predictors of opioid emergency department visits.NPJ digital medicine · 2021Article
- Workshop on Implementation Science and Digital Therapeutics for Behavioral Health.JMIR mental health · 2021Article
- Geolocation, ethics, and HIV research.Health and technology · 2021Article
- The Adaptive Behavioral Components (ABC) Model for Planning Longitudinal Behavioral Technology-Based Health Interventions: A Theoretical Framework.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- Strengths and weaknesses of existing data sources to support research to address the opioids crisis.Preventive medicine reports · 2020Review
- Accurate spatiotemporal mapping of drug overdose deaths by machine learning of drug-related web-searches.PloS one · 2020Article
- Feasibility of a Citizen-driven Hackathon to Increase Public Engagement and Solutions to Address the Opioid Crisis.Journal of substance use · 2020Article
- Assessing the 2004-2018 Fentanyl Misusing Issues Reported to an International Range of Adverse Reporting Systems.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFor a number of fiscal and practical reasons, data on heroin use have been of poor quality, which has hampered the ability to halt the growing epidemic. Internet search data, such as those made available by Google Trends, have been used as a low-cost, real-time data source for monitoring and predicting a variety of public health outcomes. We aimed to determine whether data on opioid-related internet searches might predict future heroin-related admissions to emergency departments (ED).
methodsAcross nine metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the United States, we obtained data on Google searches for prescription and non-prescription opioids, as well as Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) data on heroin-related ED visits from 2004 to 2011. A linear mixed model assessed the relationship between opioid-related Internet searches and following year heroin-related visits, controlling for MSA GINI index and total number of ED visits.
resultsThe best-fitting model explained 72% of the variance in heroin-related ED visits. The final model included the search keywords "Avinza," "Brown Sugar," "China White," "Codeine," "Kadian," "Methadone," and "Oxymorphone." We found regional differences in where and how people searched for opioid-related information.
conclusionsInternet search-based modeling should be explored as a new source of insights for predicting heroin-related admissions. In geographic regions where no current heroin-related data exist, Internet search modeling might be a particularly valuable and inexpensive tool for estimating changing heroin use trends. We discuss the immediate implications for using this approach to assist in managing opioid-related morbidity and mortality in the United States.
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