key: cord-0285579-m8l15qwo
authors: Silangcruz, K.; Nishimura, Y.; Czech, T.; Kimura, N.; Hagiya, H.; Koyama, T.; Otsuka, F.
title: Impact of the World Inflammatory Bowel Disease Day and Crohn's & Colitis Awareness Week on Population Interest between 2016 and 2020: Google Trends Analysis
date: 2021-08-05
journal: nan
DOI: 10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456
sha: f428c535a91562cc7ddfce99c4d672146a3dd955
doc_id: 285579
cord_uid: m8l15qwo

Background: More than 6 million people are affected by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) globally. World IBD Day (WID; May 19) and Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week (CCAW; December 1-7) occur yearly as national health observances to raise public awareness of IBD, but their effects are unclear. Methods: This study evaluates the impact of WID and CCAW on the public awareness of IBD in the United States (US) and worldwide from 2016 to 2020 using the relative search volume (RSV) of "IBD," "Ulcerative colitis," and "Crohn's disease" in Google Trends (GT). To identify significant timepoints of trend changes (joinpoints), we performed Joinpoint regression analysis. Results: No joinpoints were noted around the time of WID or CCAW during the study period in the search results of the US. Worldwide, joinpoints were noted around WID in 2020 with the search for "IBD" and around CAAW in 2017 and 2019 to search for "ulcerative colitis." However, the extents of trend changes were modest without statistically significant increases. Conclusions: WID and CCAD may not have worked as expected to raise public awareness of IBD. Additional measures are necessary to help raise awareness of IBD related to the health observances.

is a summary of our search strategy with GT. We followed protocols noted by previous To specifically obtain the popularity of the disease-related search inputs, all searches were 1 1 0 done with a 'disease' option in a Health category (with a "disease" option, search volumes of 1 1 1 subtopics or relevant themes are included). We chose each full year from 2016 to 2020 as 1 1 2 . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456 doi: medRxiv preprint 7 search scales to visualize weekly trends of the RSVs (each year contains 52 or 53 weeks; the to analyze the RSV data and their time trend. The software enables us to identify time points 1 2 0 called joinpoints, where a temporal trend significantly changes. We defined the analysis 1 2 1 criteria to look for up to three joinpoints. The weekly percent changes (WPCs) between 1 2 2 trend-change points were determined with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The threshold for 1 2 3 statistical significance was defined as a p-value < 0.05, suggesting the level at which the 1 2 4 slope differed from zero. The publicly available data published by GT (Google LLC, Mountain View CA, USA) are 1 2 8 utilized in the project. The study was approved by the institutional review board of Okayama University Hospital with a waiver for informed consent since the study intended to

retrospectively analyze open data (No. 1910-009) . All research methods were performed in 1 3 1 . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review)

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456 doi: medRxiv preprint 8 accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. increase in the WPC of 0.2% (95% CI; 0.1-0.4) was observed. In 2020, a joinpoint was noted 1 4 0 at the 17 th week (3 weeks before WID), after which there was a significant weekly increase in 1 4 1 the RSV by 0.3% (p < 0.001). Also, the third joinpoint was observed in the 48 th week (a week weeks before WID), after which a non-statistically significant but considerable weekly RSV 1 5 0 . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456 doi: medRxiv preprint 9 increase by 3.7% (p < 0.001) was observed until 24 th week. For worldwide results, there was week, and the 24 th week. However, there were no joinpoints around the time of WID or 1 6 0 CCAW throughout the period. This study evaluated how the global campaign for promoting IBD, such as WIB and 1 6 4 CCAW, affected public awareness using the RSVs of GT data as a surrogate. Although there 1 6 5 were several significant joinpoints for IBD, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis, overall, 1 6 6 the present results showed that WID and CCAW might not have significant impact on the 1 6 7 public interest in the US and worldwide. Rather, the public interest seems to have been . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; 1 0 increase in the RSV of ulcerative colitis in the US, a famous US singer-songwriter reportedly 1 7 0 passed away due to the disease. In March 2020, when significant trend changes were 1 7 1 observed in the US and worldwide, a well-known American comedian revealed that he had 1 7 2 had Crohn's disease. Similarly, when the same comedian was featured in a film about a man 1 7 3 who has Crohn's disease in June 2020, there were trend changes both in the US and worldwide, more efforts are needed in this aspect. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) 1 1 during the pandemic, further efforts to increase the public awareness toward the entity is The IBD landscape is constantly evolving with the hope as more therapies are 1 9 1 discovered, it makes global awareness campaigns even critical. It is crucial to address the 1 9 2 essential priorities regarding IBD awareness. There are various ways that campaign organizers 1 9 3 can utilize to build awareness and deepen engagement amongst the target audience, not only 1 9 4 the general public but also people with IBD, their families, friends, employers, and healthcare 1 9 5 providers. Any topic related to treatment always provides positive discussion points and 1 9 6 direction to campaign programs. Activities during WID and CCAW and information about 1 9 7 the organization itself should be the go-to resource for anything related to IBD. One example 1 9 8 of a successful public health awareness campaigns include the annual breast cancer 1 9 9 awareness campaign 29 . In order to make public health campaigns more successful, 2 0 0 appropriate identification of targets, early involvement of key stakeholders such as celebrities 2 0 1 with IBD, and enabling participants to feel part of the campaign using smartphone 2 0 2 applications or eHealth platforms may be effective 30 . We encourage societies or organizations 2 0 3 associated with WID or CCAW to take actions with features above in mind to improve the 2 0 4 effectiveness of these campaigns. The study's strength includes that this is the first study to show the public awareness . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456 doi: medRxiv preprint 1 2 quantify the current trends of general awareness in IBD. However, several limitations need to 2 0 8 be addressed. First, due to the nature of GT, the present results only included results from 2 0 9 those who had internet access and sought health-related information via Google search. is interestingly novel to demonstrate campaign effectiveness or ineffectiveness in public 2 1 6 awareness of IBD.

In conclusion, our study suggested that WIB and CCAW might have not been 2 1 8 successful to improve public awareness toward IBD using the GT data as a surrogate. There breast cancer awareness campaign. None. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. wrote the manuscript, and analyzed the data. HH and TK revised the manuscript critically. FO 2 2 9 supervised the research. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. Hepatol. 2015;12(12):720-727. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456 doi: medRxiv preprint 1 9 Periods were separated as Period 1-4, when the trend changes were statistically detected in the Joinpoint regression analysis during the study period. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. Periods were separated as Period 1-4, when the trend changes were statistically detected in the Joinpoint regression analysis during the study period. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. 

* Significantly different from zero (p <0.05)

. CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. South America. J Glob Health. 2020;10(1):010403. learning. J Glob Health. 2020;10(2):020511. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. Research. Digestion. 2020. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456 doi: medRxiv preprint Abbreviations: WPC, weekly percentage change, CI; confidence interval Periods were separated as Period 1-4, when the trend changes were statistically detected in the Joinpoint regression analysis during the study period. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. Weekly RSVs for the search term "Ulcerative colitis." Except for the 16th week (4 weeks 3 5 1 before WID) in the US and the 49th week (CCAW) worldwide in 2020, no other joinpoints 3 5 2 were noted around the time of WID or CCAW during the designated period. Weekly RSVs for the search term "Crohn's disease." No joinpoints were noted around the 3 5 6 . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review)The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456 doi: medRxiv preprint 2 3 time of WID or CCAW throughout the period. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review)The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 5, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.01.21261456 doi: medRxiv preprint