Google Trends-based non-English language query data and epidemic diseases: a cross-sectional study of the popular search behaviour in Taiwan.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This study developed a surveillance system suitable for monitoring epidemic outbreaks and assessing public opinion in non-English-speaking countries. We evaluated whether social media reflects social uneasiness and fear during epidemic outbreaks and natural catastrophes.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Freely available epidemic data in Taiwan.

Main outcome measure

We used weekly epidemic incidence data obtained from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control and online search query data obtained from Google Trends between 4 October 2015 and 2 April 2016. To validate whether non-English query keywords were useful surveillance tools, we estimated the correlation between online query data and epidemic incidence in Taiwan.

Results

With our approa

SUBMITTER: Chang YW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7337886 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature