title: Infodemiological data concerning silicosis in the USA in the period 2004-2010 correlating with real-world statistical data.
abstract: This article reports data concerning silicosis-related web-activities using Google Trends (GT) capturing the Internet behavior in the USA for the period 2004-2010. GT-generated data were then compared with the most recent available epidemiological data of silicosis mortality obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the same study period. Statistically significant correlations with epidemiological data of silicosis (r=0.805,p-value <0.05) and other related web searches were found. The temporal trend well correlated with the epidemiological data, as well as the geospatial distribution of the web-activities with the geographic epidemiology of silicosis.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), University of Genoa, Via Antonio Pastore 1, Genoa 16132, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola Luigi
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Bragazzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Postgraduate School in Occupational Medicine, University of Genoa and Occupational Medicine Unit, I.R.C.C.S. University Hospital San Martino - IST National Institute for Cancer Research, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Guglielmo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dini
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Postgraduate School in Occupational Medicine, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toletone
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy; Department of Neurological, Biomedical, and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brigo
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Postgraduate School in Occupational Medicine, University of Genoa and Occupational Medicine Unit, I.R.C.C.S. University Hospital San Martino - IST National Institute for Cancer Research, Genoa, Italy; Unità operativa Medicina del lavoro, IRCCS AOU San Martino-IST, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Durando
keywords: Infodemiology and infoveillance; Internet; Occupational medicine and hygiene; Web 2.0; Work-related diseases