Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32819035›Full record

ArticleHealthcare informatics research2020

Prediction of COVID-19 Outbreaks Using Google Trends in India: A Retrospective Analysis.

U Venkatesh, Periyasamy Aravind Gandhi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Healthcare informatics research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  7. Use of Digital Tools in Arbovirus Surveillance: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. A Psychometric Analysis of Fear of COVID-19 Scale in India.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2023
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Detecting early signals of COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020 in small areas by monitoring healthcare utilisation databases: first lessons learned from the Italian Alert_CoV project.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2023
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Forecasting and Surveillance of COVID-19 Spread Using Google Trends: Literature Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
    Review
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  17. Article
  18. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

U VenkateshDepartment of Community Medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC) and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Periyasamy Aravind GandhiDepartment of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveConsidering the rising menace of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is essential to explore the methods and resources that might predict the case numbers expected and identify the locations of outbreaks. Hence, we have done the following study to explore the potential use of Google Trends (GT) in predicting the COVID-19 outbreak in India.

methodsThe Google search terms used for the analysis were "coronavirus", "COVID", "COVID 19", "corona", and "virus". GTs for these terms in Google Web, News, and YouTube, and the data on COVID-19 case numbers were obtained. Spearman correlation and lag correlation were used to determine the correlation between COVID-19 cases and the Google search terms.

results"Coronavirus" and "corona" were the terms most commonly used by Internet surfers in India. Correlation for the GTs of the search terms "coronavirus" and "corona" was high (r > 0.7) with the daily cumulative and new COVID-19 cases for a lag period ranging from 9 to 21 days. The maximum lag period for predicting COVID-19 cases was found to be with the News search for the term "coronavirus", with 21 days, i.e., the search volume for "coronavirus" peaked 21 days before the peak number of cases reported by the disease surveillance system.

conclusionOur study revealed that GTs may predict outbreaks of COVID-19, 2 to 3 weeks earlier than the routine disease surveillance, in India. Google search data may be considered as a supplementary tool in COVID-19 monitoring and planning in India.

Indexed as

COVID-19Information TechnologyPublic Health SurveillanceSevere Acute Respiratory SyndromeTrends

Identifiers

PMID32819035
PMCPMC7438693

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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.