title: Infodemiology of status epilepticus: A systematic validation of the Google Trends-based search queries.
abstract: People increasingly use Google looking for health-related information. We previously demonstrated that in English-speaking countries most people use this search engine to obtain information on status epilepticus (SE) definition, types/subtypes, and treatment. Now, we aimed at providing a quantitative analysis of SE-related web queries. This analysis represents an advancement, with respect to what was already previously discussed, in that the Google Trends (GT) algorithm has been further refined and correlational analyses have been carried out to validate the GT-based query volumes. Google Trends-based SE-related query volumes were well correlated with information concerning causes and pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments. Google Trends can provide both researchers and clinicians with data on realities and contexts that are generally overlooked and underexplored by classic epidemiology. In this way, GT can foster new epidemiological studies in the field and can complement traditional epidemiological tools.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health (DINOGMI), Section of Psychiatry, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola Luigi
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Bragazzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Galliera Hospital, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bacigaluppi
authors.affiliation: Neurosciences Critical Care Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK; Brain Physics Lab, Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Robba
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Christian Doppler Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria; Department of Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nardone
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Christian Doppler Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria; Department of Public Health Technology Assessment, UMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria.
authors.forename: Eugen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trinka
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy; Department of Neurological, Biomedical, and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy. Electronic address: dr.francescobrigo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brigo
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000639:trends*; D007802:Language; D057386:Search Engine / Q000639:trends*; D013226:Status Epilepticus / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Epilepsy; Google Trends; Infodemiology; Internet; Status epilepticus; Web