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Internet Searches Monitor Rotavirus Vaccine Uptake
J Pediatr Infect Dis Soc; ePub 2017 Mar 21; Shah, et al
Data gleaned from Internet searches may help clinicians and public health officials monitor the public’s uptake of rotavirus vaccination, suggests a comparison of data from Google Trends with reports from laboratories and hospitals.
Investigators compared Internet searches on the word “rotavirus” with rotavirus lab reports from the US, United Kingdom, and Mexico before and after the vaccine was introduced nationally.
- Google Trends uses a metric called Internet query share (IQS) to measure the relative volume of searches for individual terms.
- A strong correlation was found between IQS scores and lab reports in the US and the UK. (P <.0001)
- A strong correlation was also detected between IQS and hospitalizations for acute gastroenteritis in US and Mexico. (P <.0001)
- These associations were stronger before vaccines were introduced than after.
Citation:
Shah MP, Lopman BA, Tate JE, et al. Use of internet search data to monitor rotavirus vaccine impact in the United States, United Kingdom, and Mexico. [Published online ahead of print March 21, 2017]. J Pediatr Infect Dis Soc. doi:10.1093/jpids/pix004.