Use of Google Insights for Search to track seasonal and geographic kidney stone incidence in the United States

Benjamin N Breyer; Saunak Sen; David S Aaronson; Marshall L Stoller; Bradley A Erickson; Michael L Eisenberg

doi:10.1016/j.urology.2011.01.010

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Use of Google Insights for Search to track seasonal and geographic kidney stone incidence in the United States

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Use of Google Insights for Search to track seasonal and geographic kidney stone incidence in the United States

Benjamin N Breyer, Saunak Sen, David S Aaronson, Marshall L Stoller, Bradley A Erickson and Michael L Eisenberg

Urology (Ridgewood, N.J.), Vol.78(2), pp.267-271

08/2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2011.01.010

PMCID: PMC4551459

PMID: 21459414

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Abstract

To determine whether Internet search volume for kidney stones has seasonal and geographic distributions similar to known kidney stone incidence. Google Insights for Search analyzes a portion of Google web searches from all Google domains to compute how many searches are performed for a given term relative to the total number of searches done over a specific time interval and geographic region. Selected terms related to kidney stones were examined to determine which most closely tracked kidney stone incidence. Google Insights for Search data were correlated with hospital admissions for the emergent treatment of nephrolithiasis found through the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Ambient temperature in Seattle and New York were compared with search volume for these regions to display qualitative relationships. The term "kidney stones" had the highest seasonal correlation of terms examined (r = .81, P = .0014). Google Insights for Search output and national Inpatient Sample admissions also correlated when regions were compared (r = .90, P = .005). Qualitative relationships between ambient temperatures and kidney stone search volume do exist. Internet search volume activity for kidney stones correlates with temporal and regional kidney stone insurance claims data. In the future, with improved modeling of search detection algorithms and increased Internet usage, search volume has the potential to serve as a surrogate for kidney stone incidence.

United States - epidemiology

Internet - utilization

Humans

Internet - statistics & numerical data

Kidney Calculi - epidemiology

Seasons

Incidence

Details

Title: Subtitle: Use of Google Insights for Search to track seasonal and geographic kidney stone incidence in the United States
Creators: Benjamin N Breyer - Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. bbreyer@urology.ucsf.edu
Saunak Sen
David S Aaronson
Marshall L Stoller
Bradley A Erickson
Michael L Eisenberg
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Urology (Ridgewood, N.J.), Vol.78(2), pp.267-271
DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2011.01.010
PMID: 21459414
PMCID: PMC4551459
NLM abbreviation: Urology
ISSN: 0090-4295
eISSN: 1527-9995
Publisher: United States
Grant note: K12 DK083021 / NIDDK NIH HHS K12 DK083021-01 / NIDDK NIH HHS K12DK083021 / NIDDK NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 08/2011
Academic Unit: Urology
Record Identifier: 9984051721002771

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