Google analytical tool used to gauge vaccine effectiveness

Yale: Using a statistical method initially developed by Google, a Yale School of Public Health-led research team has devised a novel way to better analyze the impact of vaccines. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Pneumococcus, a bacterial pathogen, is one of the most significant causes of pneumonia around the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pneumonia is the leading cause of death globally in children under the age of 5. Vaccines that prevent pneumococcal infection can decrease pneumonia rates, but quantifying the impact of the vaccine remains challenging.

Interest in Learning About Skin Cancer Appears to Increase During Summer According To Google Searches

JAMA: Google searches for information on melanoma and skin cancer increased over the summer months during a five-year period, although the level of interest did not correlate with the melanoma mortality to incidence ratio, suggesting that increased search volumes may not be associated with early detection, according to a research letter published online by JAMA Dermatology. Researcher Kyle T. Amber, M.D., of MacNeal Hospital, Berwyn, Ill., and coauthors used Google Trends, a research tool which quantifies interest in topics at the population level by analyzing all search queries for a specific term, to extract data for each state from 2010 to 2014 for the terms “skin cancer” and “melanoma.” Search volume indexes (SVIs) are values based on total searches during a specified period per selected region.

Google Trends: A new frontier for monitoring population health?

London School of Hygiene: Google dominates the market for internet search engines and is so pervasive that the term “to Google” has entered everyday use in a way that none of its competitors has. In Europe it isused in 85% of internet searches while in the US, it accounts for 65%. In 2012, Google handled approximately 1.2 trillion searches globally, or 3.3 billion searches per day. In an era where web searches and transactions are recorded instantaneously, this activity generates a massive volume of data whose uses are often unexpected and virtually limitless. While individuals search for many things online, such as consumer goods and services, there is also significant search activity related to health concerns. In fact, approximately 3% to 5% of worldwide search traffic involves some type of health counselling. Population health researchers are also starting to take note of the potential of these data. Google search engine queries have now been used as a source of data for population health research, from studying influenza outbreaks to monitoring interest in e-cigarettes. Yet, the use of Google Trends, the dataset that collects and organises such queries, is still in its infancy for public health research. It is imperative that population health researchers are aware of such non-traditional tools to answer pressing research questions.