Public awareness for "classic" childhood diseases and inflammatory syndromes in children during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objectives: The objective was to analyze in silico public search interest during the COVID-19 pandemic for some classic infectious childhood diseases, e.g., measles, mumps, chickenpox, scarlet fever, and inflammatory diseases like Kawasaki disease and the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS).

Study design: In this study, a comparison of five childhood diseases in public search trends with the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome was performed.

Methods: Google Trends data for the period of five years for six childhood diseases were used. We used topics coverings all languages worldwide and all connected search queries.

Results: Public search interest decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic for some classic infectious childhood diseases. Search interest for the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome, despite strong indication of a connection with COVID-19, remained relatively low compared to Kawasaki disease.

Practice implications: Better understanding of Google Trends can map public awareness of childhood diseases in terms of time course and search intensity.

Conclusions: Public interest during the pandemic was generated for diseases with suspected connection to COVID-19, presumably due to media triggers.

Keywords: COVID-19; Google trends; MIS-C; PIMS; PMIS; Search engine data.