ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2021
Trends and Patterns in the Public Awareness of Palliative Care, Euthanasia, and End-of-Life Decisions in 3 Central European Countries Using Big Data Analysis From Google: Retrospective Analysis.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- European nurses' attitudes towards assisted death: A scoping review.Nursing ethics · 2026Article
- Changes in Internet Search Term Popularity in Elder Mistreatment (2018-2023): Infodemiology Study of Google Trends Data.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Article
- Decreasing admissions in older and increasing mortality in younger patients: a nationwide observational study of all German ICU cases 2011-2022.Critical care (London, England) · 2026Observational
- Public Perspectives on Palliative and Hospice Care: Social Media Content Analysis Using Topic Modeling and Multiclass Sentiment Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Trends in public interest and vaccination coverage for Herpes Zoster.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Living with technological challenges: does socioeconomic status affect people's health?BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- End-of-life in cancer patients: Medicolegal implications and ethical challenges in Europe.Open medicine (Warsaw, Poland) · 2025Review
- The General Public and Young Adults' Knowledge and Perception of Palliative Care: A Systematic Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Article
- Attitudes and Behaviors of Palliative Care Nurses on Euthanasia.Florence Nightingale journal of nursing · 2023Article
- Impact of the cervical cancer awareness months on public interest in Japan: A Google Trends analysis, 2012-2021.Scientific reports · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEnd-of-life decisions, specifically the provision of euthanasia and assisted suicide services, challenge traditional medical and ethical principles. Austria and Germany have decided to liberalize their laws restricting assisted suicide, thus reigniting the debate about a meaningful framework in which the practice should be embedded. Evidence of the relevance of assisted suicide and euthanasia for the general population in Germany and Austria is limited.
objectiveThe aim of this study is to examine whether the public awareness documented by search activities in the most frequently used search engine, Google, on the topics of palliative care, euthanasia, and advance health care directives changed with the implementation of palliative care services and new governmental regulations concerning end-of-life decisions.
methodsWe searched for policies, laws, and regulations promulgated or amended in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland between 2004 and 2020 and extracted data on the search volume for each search term topic from Google Trends as a surrogate of public awareness and interest. Annual averages were analyzed using the Joinpoint Regression Program.
resultsImportant policy changes yielded significant changes in search trends for the investigated topics. The enactment of laws regulating advance health care directives coincided with a significant drop in the volume of searches for the topic of euthanasia in all 3 countries (Austria: -24.48%, P=.02; Germany: -14.95%, P<.001; Switzerland: -11.75%, P=.049). Interest in palliative care increased with the availability of care services and the implementation of laws and policies to promote palliative care (Austria: 22.69%, P=.01; Germany: 14.39, P<.001; Switzerland: 17.59%, P<.001). The search trends for advance health care directives showed mixed results. While interest remained steady in Austria within the study period, it increased by 3.66% (P<.001) in Switzerland and decreased by 2.85% (P<.001) in Germany.
conclusionsOur results demonstrate that legal measures securing patients' autonomy at the end of life may lower the search activities for topics related to euthanasia and assisted suicide. Palliative care may be a meaningful way to raise awareness of the different options for end-of-life care and to guide patients in their decision-making process regarding the same.
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