Seasonality of acne severity in Korean patients: data from a dermatologic clinic and military hospital

Seasonal Patterns and Trends in Dermatoses in Poland

Background: The amount of data available online is constantly increasing, including search behavior and tracking trends in domains such as Google. Analyzing the data helps to predict patient needs and epidemiological events more accurately. Our study aimed to identify dermatology-related terms that occur seasonally and any search anomalies during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Methods: The data were gathered using Google Trends, with 69 entries between January-2010 and December-2020 analyzed. We conducted the Seasonal Mann–Kendal Test to determine the strength of trends. The month with the highest seasonal component (RSV) and the lowest seasonal component (RSV) was indicated for every keyword. Groups of keywords occurring together regularly at specific periods of the year were shown. Results: We found that some topics were seasonally searched in winter (e.g., herpes, scabies, candida) and others in summer (e.g., erythema, warts, urticaria). Conclusions: Interestingly, downward trends in searches on sexually transmitted diseases in comparison with increased infection rates reported officially show a strong need for improved sexual education in Poland. There were no significant differences in trends for coronavirus-related cutaneous symptoms during 2020. We have shown that the seasonality of dermatologically related terms searched in Poland via Google did not differ significantly during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

'Dr. Google, What Is That on My Skin?'-Internet Searches Related to Skin Problems: Google Trends Data from 2004 to 2019

The Internet is a common source of health information as search engines propose websites that should answer users' queries. The study aimed to investigate the search behavior of Google users related to skin clinical signs as well as to analyze their geographical, secular, and seasonal patterns. The data of Google Trends was used to analyze the number of Google searches related to skin problems from January 2004 to December 2019. Thirty-four topics representing dermatologic complaints were identified. The interests of all topics were calculated in proportion to the Relative Search Volume (RSV) of 'Scar'. Geographical patterns as well as secular and seasonal trends were analyzed. Countries with few users who searched for skin problems were excluded from the analysis. Globally, gaining the most attention were 'Itch' proportion to RSV of 'Itch' (2.21), 'Hair loss' (1.56), 'Skin rash' (1.38), 'Perspiration' (1.32), and 'Scar' (1.00). In 42 of the 65 analyzed countries, 'Itch' was the most popular topic, followed by 'Hair loss' (n = 7), and 'Pustule' (n = 6). The RSV of all topics increases over time, with 'Comedo' (5.15 RSV/year), 'Itch' (4.83 RSV/year), and 'Dandruff' (4.66 RSV/year) being the most dynamic ones. For 23 topics, the highest interest was noted during warm months. Considering skin manifestations, Google users are mainly interested in itch, hair loss, and skin rash. An increasing number of individuals worldwide seem to use Google as a source of health information for dermatological clinical signs during the study period.