title: Wikipedia and neurological disorders.
abstract: Our aim was to evaluate Wikipedia page visits in relation to the most common neurological disorders by determining which factors are related to peaks in Wikipedia searches for these conditions. Millions of people worldwide use the internet daily as a source of health information. Wikipedia is a popular free online encyclopedia used by patients and physicians to search for health-related information. The following Wikipedia articles were considered: Alzheimer's disease; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Dementia; Epilepsy; Epileptic seizure; Migraine; Multiple sclerosis; Parkinson's disease; Stroke; Traumatic brain injury. We analyzed information regarding the total article views for 90 days and the rank of these articles among all those available in Wikipedia. We determined the highest search volume peaks to identify possible relation with online news headlines. No relation between incidence or prevalence of neurological disorders and the search volume for the related articles was found. Seven out of 10 neurological conditions showed relations in search volume peaks and news headlines. Six out of these seven peaks were related to news about famous people suffering from neurological disorders, especially those from showbusiness. Identification of discrepancies between disease burden and health seeking behavior on Wikipedia is useful in the planning of public health campaigns. Celebrities who publicly announce their neurological diagnosis might effectively promote awareness programs, increase public knowledge and reduce stigma related to diagnoses of neurological disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, Section of Clinical Neurology, University of Verona, Piazzale L.A. Scuro, 10, Verona 37134, Italy; Department of Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy. Electronic address: dr.francescobrigo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brigo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki-Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Stanley C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Igwe
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy; Department of Neurology, Christian Doppler Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nardone
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy; Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale "Amedeo Avogadro", Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: Piergiorgio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lochner
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy.
authors.forename: Frediano
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tezzon
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands; Biomedical MR Imaging and Spectroscopy Group, Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Willem M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Otte
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D009462:Neurology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D011634:Public Health; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057386:Search Engine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Epidemiology; Google; Infodemiology; Internet; Neurological disorders; Wikipedia