Internet-based information-seeking behavior for transient ischemic attack.
BACKGROUND
In recent years, Internet became an increasingly important tool for accessing health information and is being used more frequently to promote public health.


OBJECTIVE
To use Google search data to explore information seeking behavior for transient ischemic attack.


METHODS
We selected two groups of keywords related to transient ischemic attack: 'Transient Ischemic Attack' and 'Mini Stroke'. We obtained all available online search data performed in the United States from the Google search engine for a 10-year span--January 2004 to December 2013. The monthly and daily search data for the selected keywords were analyzed--using moving average--to explore the trends, peaks, and declining effects.


RESULTS
There were three significant concurrent peaks in the Google search data for the selected keywords. Each peak was directly associated with media coverage and news headlines related to the incident of transient ischemic attack in a public figure. Following each event, it took three- to seven-days for the search trend to return to its respective average value. Furthermore, the trend was steady for 'Transient Ischemic Attack'; however, the search interest for the keyword 'Mini Stroke' shows a steady increase. The overall search interest for the selected keywords was significantly higher in the southeastern United States.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that changes in online search behavior can be associated with media coverage of key events (in our case transient ischemic attack) in public figures. These findings suggest that multimedia health promotion campaigns might be more effective, if increased promptly after similar media coverage.
Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Vida
V
Abedi
Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
Marieme
M
Mbaye
Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN, USA.|Second Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Georgios
G
Tsivgoulis
Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
Shailesh
S
Male
Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
Nitin
N
Goyal
Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
Andrei V
AV
Alexandrov
Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
Ramin
R
Zand
D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D057386:Search Engine; D020521:Stroke; D014481:United States
Google; Internet; behavior; computers; stroke; transient ischemic attack