The utility of "Google Trends" for epidemiological research: Lyme disease as an example.
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Internet search engines have become an increasingly popular resource for accessing health-related information. The key words used as well as the number and geographic location of searches can provide trend data, as have recently been made available by Google Trends. We report briefly on exploring this resource using Lyme disease as an example because it has well-described seasonal and geographic patterns. We found that search traffic for the string "Lyme disease" reflected increased likelihood of exposure during spring and summer months; conversely, the string "cough" had higher relative traffic during winter months. The cities and states with the highest amount of search traffic for "Lyme disease" overlapped considerably with those where Lyme is known to be endemic. Despite limitations to over-interpretation, we found Google Trends to approximate certain trends previously identified in the epidemiology of Lyme disease. The generation of this type of data may have valuable future implications in aiding surveillance of a broad range of diseases. (+info)
Effectiveness of the use of internet search by third year medical students to establish a clinical diagnosis.
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INTRODUCTION: Internet search has been the main source for information and data mining in medical research. Its use by medical students has immensely contributed to learning activities. The main aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of internet use by medical students during their initial years of clinical instruction in order to establish a diagnosis after being provided with the history and physical findings of a clinical problem. METHODS: A total of 47 cases derived from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) were utilised. The Google search engine was utilised to establish a reasonable diagnosis. RESULTS: A congruency rate of 44.7% was obtained. This was considered commendable in view of the complexities of the cases published in the NEJM and the fact that the medical students were only in the third year of their Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery program. CONCLUSION: The study illustrates that common search engines could complement the traditionally used medical education methods. (+info)
The touro 12-step: a systematic guide to optimizing survey research with online discussion boards.
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