GoogleTrends as a patient therapeutic education resource on
extracorporeal life support: What do patients want to know?
Abstract
Introduction Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is
implemented as a rescue therapy in COVID-19 related acute distress
respiratory syndrome (ARDS) and refractory hypoxemia. Google trends (GT)
is an ongoing-developing web-kit providing feedback on specific
population’s interests. This study uses GT to analyze the United States
(US) general population interest in ECMO as COVD-19/ARDS salvage
therapy. Methods GT was used to access data searched for the
term ECMO and COVID-19. The gathered information included
data from March 2020 through July 2021 within US territories. Search
frequency, time intervals, sub-regions, frequent topics of interest, and
related searches were analyzed. Data was reported as search frequency on
means, and a value of 100 represented overall peak popularity.
Results The number of Google searches related to the terms
ECMO and COVID-19 has surged and sustained interest over
time ever since the initial reports of COVID-19 in the US, from an
initial mean of 34% in March 2020 to a 100% interest by April 2020,
resulting in an up-to-date overall average of 40% interest. Over time
West Virginia, Gainesville, and Houston, lead the frequency of searches
in sub-region, metro and city areas, respectively. Top search terms by
frequency include: ECMO machine, COVID ECMO, what is ECMO, ECMO
treatment and VV ECMO. Parallel to this, the related
rising terms are: COVID ECMO, ECMO machine COVID, ECMO for COVID,
ECMO machine coronavirus, and ECMO vs ventilator. Seemingly,
medical-relevant websites fail to adequately address these for patient
therapeutic education (PTE) purposes. Conclusions GT
complements the understanding of interest in ECMO for COVID-19. When
properly interpreted, the use of these trends can potentially improve on
PTE and therapy awareness via specific medical relevant websites.