Pollen Counts Influence Web Searches for Asthma and Rhinitis

Assessment of Google Trends terms reporting allergies and the grass pollen season in Ukraine

Background

Grass pollen allergy is an important trigger for the development of respiratory disorders. Defining the grass pollen season onset is critical for correct allergy diagnosis and personalized therapy. The development of a pan-European sentinel network for allergic diseases has raised the problem of translating the Google search terms into different European languages as well as defining specific pollen season characteristics in different regions. Grass pollen allergy was investigated due to high allergenicity and wide expansion of grass pollen in Europe.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to examine which translations of “hay fever”, “grass”, and “rhinitis” could be used in the native Cyrillic languages, especially in Ukrainian and Russian, and to compare the seasonality of allergic respiratory queries in Ukraine with the grass pollen counts.

Methods

Google Trends (GT) was used to search Google queries concerning grass pollen allergy: “allergy”, “hay fever”, “runny nose”, “grass”, “asthma”, and “pollen”. The Cyrillic terms in Ukrainian and Russian were used. The search was done for the period from 2013 to 2017. Pollen collection from 2013 to 2016 was conducted using volumetric methods. Average daily temperatures were obtained from http://gismeteo.ua. Correlations were assessed by Spearman (R) test.

Results

The Ukrainian Google users searched the Cyrillic equivalents for “runny nose”, “grass”, and “asthma”. Due to the GT queries profile, Ukraine had a “D” pattern according to the classification, developed by Bousquet J et al (2017). In Ukraine, the Poaceae pollen season generally occurred between the second ten-day period of May and the last ten-day period of July. The Poaceae pollen season started with a concentration of pollen grains of 8.0 m⁻³. This concentration provoked the growth of GT “grass”, “allergy”, “hay fever”, and “asthma” queries.

Conclusions

The terms “grass”, “allergy”, “hay fever”, and “asthma” (in their Cyrillic equivalents) are required in Ukraine to account for the grass pollen exposure by GT. The study of GT may be a useful tool to make an assessment of the grass pollen season for the prevention and minimization of exposure to significant grass pollen concentrations.

Internet searches offer insight into early-season pollen patterns in observation-free zones

Tracking concentrations of regional airborne pollen is valuable for a variety of fields including plant and animal ecology as well as human health. However, current methods for directly measuring regional pollen concentrations are labor-intensive, requiring special equipment and manual counting by professionals leading to sparse data availability in select locations. Here, we use publicly available Google Trends data to evaluate whether searches for the term "pollen" can be used to approximate local observed early-season pollen concentrations as reported by the National Allergy Bureau across 25 U.S. regions from 2012-2017, in the context of site-specific characteristics. Our findings reveal that two major factors impact the ability of internet search data to approximate observed pollen: (1) volume/availability of internet search data, which is tied to local population size and media use; and (2) signal intensity of the seasonal peak in searches. Notably, in regions and years where internet search data was abundant, we found strong correlations between local search patterns and observed pollen, thus revealing a potential source of daily pollen data across the U.S. where observational pollen data are not reliably available.

Patterns in Google Trends Terms Reporting Rhinitis and Ragweed Pollen Season in Ukraine

BACKGROUND

Google Trends (GT) may represent a new approach to assessing pollen allergy. However, the development of a pan-European sentinel network has raised a problem of translating terms in different languages. A precise definition of the pollen season onset is crucial for the confirmation of a pollen allergy diagnosis and personalized treatment. Ragweed pollen allergy was investigated due to its high allergenicity and wide expansion in Europe.

OBJECTIVES

The study aimed to examine translations of "ragweed" and "hay fever" in native Cyrillic languages, especially in Ukrainian and Russian, and to compare the seasonality of queries in Ukraine with ragweed and mugwort pollen counts.

METHODS

We used GT to search Google queries concerning ragweed allergy: "allergy," "hay fever," "running nose," "ragweed," "asthma," and "pollen." The Cyrillic terms in Ukrainian and Russian were used. Pollen collection for 2013-2015 was conducted using volumetric methods. Average daily temperatures were obtained from the website http://gismeteo.ua. Correlations were studied by using Pearson and Spearman tests.

RESULTS

GT queries profile had the "B" pattern according to the classification developed by Bousquet et al. [Allergy. 2017 Aug; 72(8): 1261-6]. A peak of "ragweed" queries was observed after the maximum of average daily temperature. The terms "allergy," "hay fever," and "ragweed" in Cyrillic are required in Ukraine to calculate the ragweed pollen exposure by GT. The ragweed pollen season started with a concentration of pollen grains of 12.95 m-3. The Artemisia pollen season started between 19 and 25 days before the beginning of the Ambrosia pollen season.

CONCLUSIONS

GT may be a useful tool in the differentiation of the pollen seasons, especially when they overlap as in the case of Arte misia/Ambrosia. Three terms, "allergy," "hay fever," and "ragweed" (in Cyrillic equivalents), are required in Ukraine to account for ragweed pollen exposure. The combination of GT tools with pollen counts may be used in large-scale epidemiological studies.

Differences in Reporting the Ragweed Pollen Season Using Google Trends across 15 Countries

BACKGROUND

Google Trends (GT) searches trends of specific queries in Google, which potentially reflect the real-life epidemiology of allergic rhinitis. We compared GT terms related to ragweed pollen allergy in American and European Union countries with a known ragweed pollen season. Our aim was to assess seasonality and the terms needed to perform the GT searches and to compare these during the spring and summer pollen seasons.

METHODS

We examined GT queries from January 1, 2011, to January 4, 2017. We included 15 countries with a known ragweed pollen season and used the standard 5-year GT graphs. We used the GT translation for all countries and the untranslated native terms for each country.

RESULTS

The results of "pollen," "ragweed," and "allergy" searches differed between countries, but "ragweed" was clearly identified in 12 of the 15 countries. There was considerable heterogeneity of findings when the GT translation was used. For Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia, the GT translation was inappropriate. The country patterns of "pollen," "hay fever," and "allergy" differed in 8 of the 11 countries with identified "ragweed" queries during the spring and the summer, indicating that the perception of tree and grass pollen allergy differs from that of ragweed pollen.

CONCLUSIONS

To investigate ragweed pollen allergy using GT, the term "ragweed" as a plant is required and the translation of "ragweed" in the native language needed.