Evaluating public interest in herpes zoster in Germany by leveraging the internet: a retrospective search data analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Herpes zoster (HZ) and its complication postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), whose incidence are both expected to increase with an ageing population, have demonstrated high costs on healthcare systems and burden on individual quality of life. Previous studies have shown the possibility of assessing public interest in a disease and factors that influence search behaviour using internet search data. The aim of this study was to analyze internet search data for HZ in Germany to evaluate public interest in the disease and relevant influential temporal and geographic factors that modify search behavior.

Methods

Google Ads Keyword Planner was used to generate a list of HZ-related keywords including their search volume for Germany as a whole and its sixteen federal states from

SUBMITTER: Kain A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10426197 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature