ArticlePediatric blood & cancer2019
Health-related Google searches performed by parents of pediatric oncology patients.
Article in Pediatric blood & cancer, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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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
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Communicating With Children With Cancer: Development of a Chatbot-Based Educational Support Tool.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2026Article
- Acceptability of Sharing Internet Browsing History for Cancer Research: Think-Aloud and Interview Study.JMIR cancer · 2026Article
- Harnessing Internet Search Data as a Potential Tool for Medical Diagnosis: Literature Review.JMIR mental health · 2025Review
- Public interest and awareness regarding general health, sleep quality and mental wellbeing during the early COVID-19 pandemic period: An exploration using Google trends.Sleep epidemiology · 2022Article
- Developing, Deploying, and Evaluating Digital Mental Health Interventions in Spaces of Online Help- and Information-Seeking.Procedia computer science · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about the specific information parents of children with cancer search for online. Understanding the content of parents' searches over time could offer insight into what matters most to parents and identify knowledge gaps that could inform more comprehensive approaches to family education and support.
methodsWe describe parents' health-related Google searches starting six months before cancer diagnosis and extending through the date of study enrollment, which was at least one month after initiating cancer treatment. Searches were obtained retrospectively and grouped into health-related and non-health-related categories. The median time to parent enrollment from date of cancer diagnosis was 264 days.
resultsParents searched for health-related topics more frequently than the general population (13% vs 5%). Health-related searches increased in the months preceding the child's cancer diagnosis and most commonly pertained to symptoms and logistics, "directions to hospital." Health-related search volume peaked about a month after cancer diagnosis when general health-related searches were present in addition to cancer-specific searches. Eighteen percent of health-related searches were cancer specific, and of these cancer-specific searches, 54% pertained to support, for example "cancer quote for son."
conclusionsGoogle search content offers insight into what matters to parents of cancer patients. Understanding search content could inform more comprehensive approaches to family education and support initiatives.
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