Understanding Health Communication Through Google Trends and News Coverage for COVID-19: Multinational Study in Eight Countries

BackgroundDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, health information related to COVID-19 has spread across news media worldwide. Google is among the most used internet search engines, and the Google Trends tool can reflect how the public seeks COVID-19–related health information during the pandemic.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to understand health communication through Google Trends and news coverage and to explore their relationship with prevention and control of COVID-19 at the early epidemic stage.MethodsTo achieve the study objectives, we analyzed the public’s information-seeking behaviors on Google and news media coverage on COVID-19. We collected data on COVID-19 news coverage and Google search queries from eight countries (ie, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand) between January 1 and April 29, 2020. We depicted the characteristics of the COVID-19 news coverage trends over time, as well as the search query trends for the topics of COVID-19–related “diseases,” “treatments and medical resources,” “symptoms and signs,” and “public measures.” The search query trends provided the relative search volume (RSV) as an indicator to represent the popularity of a specific search term in a specific geographic area over time. Also, time-lag correlation analysis was used to further explore the relationship between search terms trends and the number of new daily cases, as well as the relationship between search terms trends and news coverage.ResultsAcross all search trends in eight countries, almost all search peaks appeared between March and April 2020, and declined in April 2020. Regarding COVID-19–related “diseases,” in most countries, the RSV of the term “coronavirus” increased earlier than that of “covid-19”; however, around April 2020, the search volume of the term “covid-19” surpassed that of “coronavirus.” Regarding the topic “treatments and medical resources,” the most and least searched terms were “mask” and “ventilator,” respectively. Regarding the topic “symptoms and signs,” “fever” and “cough” were the most searched terms. The RSV for the term “lockdown” was significantly higher than that for “social distancing” under the topic “public health measures.” In addition, when combining search trends with news coverage, there were three main patterns: (1) the pattern for Singapore, (2) the pattern for the United States, and (3) the pattern for the other countries. In the time-lag correlation analysis between the RSV for the topic “treatments and medical resources” and the number of new daily cases, the RSV for all countries except Singapore was positively correlated with new daily cases, with a maximum correlation of 0.8 for the United States. In addition, in the time-lag correlation analysis between the overall RSV for the topic “diseases” and the number of daily news items, the overall RSV was positively correlated with the number of daily news items, the maximum correlation coefficient was more than 0.8, and the search behavior occurred 0 to 17 days earlier than the news coverage.ConclusionsOur findings revealed public interest in masks, disease control, and public measures, and revealed the potential value of Google Trends in the face of the emergence of new infectious diseases. Also, Google Trends combined with news media can achieve more efficient health communication. Therefore, both news media and Google Trends can contribute to the early prevention and control of epidemics.     

Regional risk factors for health inequalities in Scotland and England and the “Scottish effect”

This paper uses data from the Scottish Health Survey 2003 and the comparable Health Survey for England 2003 to look at whether Scotland's poor health image and mortality profile is reflected in regional inequalities in prevalence of four risk factors for cardiovascular disease: fruit and vegetable consumption, smoking, obesity and diabetes. It also looks at the “Scottish effect” – how much of any difference between and within Scotland and England remains once socio-demographic factors have been taken in to account. The paper then uses regional analyses to determine the extent to which areas within England and Scotland contribute to their national health advantage and disadvantage. All 2003 strategic health authorities in England and Scottish health boards were compared with Greater Glasgow health board as the reference category.The results showed that significant geographic variation in the risk factors remained once individual economic status was taken into account, but the relationship was complex and varied in strength and direction depending upon risk factor involved and gender of respondent. A small number of areas had significantly lower odds of fruit and vegetable consumption of five portions or more a day in men, compared with Greater Glasgow. In contrast some areas had significantly higher odds of fruit and vegetable consumption for women compared with Greater Glasgow.There was greater geographic variation in the odds of smoking in women than in men. Respondents in the south west and southeast of England (areas which usually show health advantage) did not show significantly lower odds of smoking compared with Greater Glasgow once socio-economic variation, age and urban residence was taken into account. It was respondents from central England that had lower odds of smoking than might be expected. Obesity stood out as the single risk factor that had demonstrated a “Scottish effect” in women only.     

Smoking and respiratory disease symptoms inrural Bangladesh

Respiratory disease (excluding tuberculosis) is a largely untargetted health problem in Bangladesh. This study emphasises both that existing morbidity is considerable and that it is sure to increase if smoking spreads further. In two poor village populations 71% of men though only 1% of women were current smokers (one or more cigarettes or bidi per day); about one in five had begun smoking before the age of 10 years. Most heavy smokers and all women smoked bidi (hand-rolled coarse tobacco sticks). Expenditure on smoking absorbed up to 5% of household income but, seemingly paradoxically, one of the lowest socio-economic groups had the heaviest consumption.For men the striking effect of smoking in increasing respiratory disease symptom prevalence at all ages is clear. Nearly all male smokers reported “cough” but so did four out of five men and women who had never smoked. There were too few women smokers for meaningful analysis. However, “morning phlegm”, “an episode of increased phlegm” and “wheezing” as well as being common for non-smokers of both sexes, were two to three times more frequent among women than men who had never smoked. In women there must certainly be other causal factors for respiratory symptoms apart from smoking, the most important are likely to be smoke from cooking fires and respiratory infections in childhood. Improving immunization coverage and the treatment of respiratory infections in childhood would be useful preventive strategies for both men and women. The most urgent public health measure is to reduce the prevalence of smoking.     

Medicalisation of food advertising. Nutrition and health claims in magazine food advertisements 1990–2008

Food advertising increasingly portrays food as a type of medicine. A content analysis of magazine food advertisements in 1990 through 2008 shows that this was manifested with time more in the (a) nutrition claims and (b) health claims made in food advertisements, as well as the (c) food groups and (d) media genres to which nutrition and health claims in food advertising pertained. This so-called “medicalisation” of food advertising may promote images of the body and mind as malfunctioning unless remedied by the use of – advertised – products.     

Impacts of sensory attributes and emotional responses on the hedonic ratings of odors in dairy products

Consumers often decide to purchase certain items as a result of prompt emotional responses evoked by the products; therefore, it is important to investigate the emotional responses stimulated by food samples, as well as the sensory attributes of the products. The aim of this study was to examine influences of sensory attribute and emotional response on olfactory hedonic ratings of dairy products. Additionally, we compared this effect between women and men subjects. Sensory attributes of six natural odors produced by commercial dairy products were evaluated by 9 trained panelists. In addition, 100 untrained panelists (50 women and 50 men) rated the emotional response stimulated by the 6 odors using 25 paired semantic differential scales and the hedonicity using a 9 cm line scale, respectively. Untrained panelists more liked “sweet aromatics,” “sour aromatics,” “fermented aromatics,” and “rich aromatics” over the other sensory attributes of dairy products. The olfactory hedonic ratings were increased when the odor was more characterized as “fragrant,” “attractive,” “comfortable,” “familiar,” “faint,” “natural,” or “modern.” Specific sensory attributes were found to be related to specific adjective pairs representing the emotional response. Moreover, the ratings of adjective pairs representing emotional response of odors and their influences on hedonic ratings differed significantly between sexes. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the emotional responses as well as the sensory attributes affect the hedonic ratings of odors in dairy products.     

Improving mothers' access to PMTCT programs in West Africa: A public health perspective

Despite technical means and apparent political will, the percentage of pregnant women involved in preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) interventions is not increasing as fast as public health authorities would expect. This is even more striking when compared to the scaling up of access to antiretroviral treatment. It seems important to analyze the successes and failures of the programs and the “scaling-up” of PMTCT programs. This is a major issue for women at two levels: women are very concerned about the health of their children, and they are the ones who implement prevention in collaboration with health services. A review of achievements and failures described from a public health perspective may lead to greater understanding of the social aspects involved in PMTCT program achievements and failures. This paper is based on the combination of a literature review and empirical evidence collected during 15 years of PMTCT implementation, childcare research and treatment programs in West Africa. The analysis aims to identify the social issues that explain the gap between PMTCT program aims and achievements in order to encourage research in the social sciences regarding relationships between mothers and the care system. We find it is possible to build programs at the national level that have a high degree of acceptance of testing and intervention, with a progressive decline in HIV infection among children. However, many obstacles remain, highlighting the necessity to broaden access to HIV screening, develop mass campaigns on testing for couples and improve HIV care and training for caregivers. Because HIV-infected pregnant women are experiencing great psychological distress, healthcare providers must use an approach that is as friendly as possible.     

Health and housing conditions in public sector housing estates

This article reports some of the findings of a study of health and housing conditions ina sample of households from eight different types of council housing areas in Gateshead.Controlling for age, there were found to be marked and consistent differences in self-reported health between individuals from different areas. For all age groups up to 65 years old, those living in “bad” housing areas reported poorer health, more long-standing illness, more recent illness and more symptoms of respiratory disease and depression. The clearest associations between poor health and bad housing emerged for the generally fittest age-groups (the under 25 years). For the people over 65 years the position was reversed, with those in “good” housing areas reporting poorer health, with the exception of recent illness. This is argued to be the result of local authority lettings policy, which gives priority to re-housing the less-fit elderly.Those in “bad” housing areas were also more likely to report housing defects which affected their health and to feel that their health could be improved by a change in their housing.The study found that “bad” council housing areas did not necessarily conform to thestereotype of non-traditional construction, or high-rise flats. Some consisted of traditionally built houses, while there was a sizeable representation among the “good” housing of system-built high-rise flats. The “bad” housing areas were marked off more by their location, their poor environment and the low quality of their construction.     

“They (ARVs) are my life, without them I’m nothing”—experiences of patients attending a HIV/AIDS clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa

This paper is a part of a larger study that explores the “social complexity” of antiretroviral therapy (ART), in resource-limited environments. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a sample of 44 patients in an urban HIV/AIDS clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa, this paper examines how people with HIV/AIDS conceptualise their illness and its treatment in this context. The paper concludes that the fear of stigma plays a significant role in patients’ experiences throughout the disease trajectory. Yet, demonstrates that there are indications that ARVs are transforming the experience of living with HIV/AIDS and a process of normalisation is taking place. Despite the resource-limited context and, often, lack of family and community support, patients see the ARVs as ‘life saving’ and express their long-term commitment to adhere to the drug regimen as well as their trust in health professionals.     

Prospects for improving health through reducing risk factors

Intervention against both bodily risk factors such as hypertension, high serum cholesterol, cervical dysplasia, and trisomy 21; and behavioral risk factors such as cigarette smoking, too little exercise, and excessive alcohol consumption, offers improving prospects for reducing major current causes of death. The MRFIT program and other trials of intervention in North Karelia, Finland, and in northern California, are aimed at delineating how effective this strategy may be. Already it is clear that the risk factor intervention strategy may incorporate one or both of two tactics: the “medical model,” i.e., selecting individuals for intervention efforts on the basis of medical examinations; or the “community model,” i.e., directing efforts for risk factor reduction at a total community. This new approach to prevention represents a shift away from the clinical entities as the focus of medicine toward the identification and reduction of the factors that lead to clinical disease. The aim is not just to avoid clinical disease but to maintain health in the sense of physiologic function, anatomic regularity, chemical balance, genetic integrity, immunologic status, and healthful behavior.     

Influences on Meat Avoidance Among British Students

Male and female undergraduates (18–23 years old; 68% in their first year;N=158) who had just chosen a vegetarian dish in a campus dining hall or restaurant reported a diversity of meat avoidance habits before arrival at University a few weeks previously. More women than men had avoided meat and other flesh foods, with the exception of fish. Consistently with the distinction between “red” and “white” meats, chicken and turkey were the least often avoided flesh foods among men and women. The only clear gradation from flesh-eating to vegetarianism was eating poultry and either beef/lamb or pork, eating only poultry and eating neither; fish was not on this Guttman scale, contrary to previous assumptions. Reasons for avoiding meat and perceived influences on preferences for food in their chosen vegetarian dish were elicited by open-ended interviews in 41 women from the meat-avoidance survey. Rationales spontaneously offered were as diverse as reported in previous studies, but always included at least two of the following: ethics of raising/killing animals, concern for health, sensory factors, disgust and influence of friends. In contrast, choices among described variants of the familiar dish were largely controlled by its sensory and nutritional features, presumably because other attributes had been factored out.     

Consumer perception of bread quality

Bread contains a wide range of important nutritional components which provide a positive effect on human health. However, the consumption of bread is declining during the last decades. This is due to factors such as changing eating patterns and an increasing choice of substitutes like breakfast cereals and fast foods. The aim of this study is to investigate consumer's quality perception of bread towards sensory, health and nutrition attributes. Four consumer segments are identified based on these attributes. The different consumer segments comprise consumers being positive to all three quality aspects of bread (“enthusiastic”) as wells as consumers perceiving bread strongly as “tasteless”, “non-nutritious” or “unhealthy”. Moreover, factors are identified which influence the consumers’ quality perception of bread. The results of our study may help health professionals and policy makers to systematically inform consumers about the positive effects of bread based on its components. Furthermore, firms can use the results to build up tailor-made marketing strategies.     

Social agents and news media as risk amplifiers: a case study on the public debate about the E. coli outbreak in Germany 2011

The social amplification of risk framework highlights the role which the news media play in risk communication by interacting with other agents in amplifying risk. However, the precise ways in which the media and other social agents actually amplify risks in public debates are unclear. In this article we draw on insights from the sociology of news to examine whether and to what extent social agents and news media amplify an emerging health risk. We use the debate about the Escherichia coli outbreak in Germany in 2011 to examine three issues: the amount of risk reporting by news media and social agents in their function as news sources; their evaluation of risk; and how they contribute to the escalation of risk, also known as ripple effects. In this article we draw on data from a content analysis of press releases from public health authorities and affected stakeholders and of news items in leading German news media. We found that the affected stakeholders were amplifying the risk to the greatest extent. We also found that there was a shift over time in the use of dominant frames. At the start of the debate the risk was framed as a public health issue and linked to medical-scientific progress. As the debate developed, more attention was given to political and economic consequences of the outbreak and the original health risk event was layered by other risk-related events.     

Prevention of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the First Place

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention can address the major risk factors—blood lipids, blood pressure, and smoking—and their determinants throughout the lifespan, with approaches varying according to age and risk. The Task Force on Research in Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases gave new impetus to the concept of early intervention: Their highest priority in CVD prevention was “to prevent the development of CVD risk in the first place.” Six issues follow: (1) the relation between “primordial prevention” of CVD and “prevention of the risk factors in the first place”; (2) the place of youth in context with older and younger age groups; (3) the importance of bridging institutional gaps between youth and adulthood; (4) the need to strengthen the scientific base linking the major risk factors (e.g., blood cholesterol concentration) with their determinants; (5) the value of rate of change in risk factors with age, and not only incidence of “treatable” levels of risk factors, as an outcome in assessing interventions; and (6) the role and appropriate design strategies for both observational and intervention studies. It is time for a radical expansion of our investment in preventing the risk factors in the first place.     

A Question of Balance: Nutrition, Health and Gastronomy

Given the higher proportion of manufactured foods now available which meet current dietary recommendations, the food supply in developed countries like Australia could be said to be “healthier”. Yet the “health” of the diet is often achieved at the expense of the “health” of the environment since ecological problems created by current food production and distribution methods remain unaddressed. Further, nutritional modifications which produce foods that are low in fat, sugar, salt and high in fibre do not necessarily address the concerns consumers have about the food supply. An emphasis solely on the physical health of populations, through improved diet, is out of keeping with current views on health which recognise the importance of overall well-being. Through the development of the concept of “sustaining gastronomy”, consumers, food manufacturers and producers, and food regulators can better address the problems inherent in the food system, including those of an environmental nature.     

Gastric cancer mortality rates by occupation and industry among male and female workers aged 25–64 years in Japan

Differences in risk for gastric cancer exist among occupations and industries in Japan. Using a 2015 national dataset, we estimated the mortality rates due to gastric cancer in Japanese male and female workers aged 25–64 yr. Regression models were used to estimate the mortality rate ratios separately for men and women with adjustment for age. The occupation with the highest risk ratio was “Service” in men (2.06, 95% confidence interval: 1.63–2.61) and “Construction and Mining” in women compared with “Sales”. For industries, workers in “Mining”, “Electricity, Gas, Heat supply and Water”, “Fisheries”, “Agriculture and Forestry”, and “Construction” had a higher mortality risk. Our results showed that occupations and industries with higher mortality rates in men had the same trend as the results from 2010, and occupations and industries with higher mortality rates in women were almost the same as those in men. The analyses also indicated that managerial and professional workers in Japan had higher mortality as opposed to developed Western countries. In conclusion, this study suggests that occupations and industries still impact men and women’s health in terms of mortality due to gastric cancer in Japan.     

The “U” technique: A new method for Norplant implants removal

The standard technique for Norplant implants removal was compared with a new technique called the “U” technique, which employs the use of a modified no-scalpel vas deferens holding forceps to grasp and remove the capsules. Seventy-six women requesting Norplant implants removal were randomly assigned to Group 1 (standard removal technique) or Group 2 (“U” removal technique). Variables measured included: (a) time required for complete removal, (b) number of capsules not broken or damaged during removal, and (c) number of incisions required for removal of all six capsules. In clients with visible or palpable capsules, the standard removal technique required significantly more time to remove all six capsules, on average, than the “U” technique (19 versus 7 minutes, p < 0.001); also more capsules were damaged during removal (5.6 undamaged versus 6.0,p < 0.01). In addition, with the standard technique, five clients required two incisions for removal of all six capsules while none of the clients required more than one incision with the “U” technique. Our conclusion is that the “U” technique is a quicker and easier method of removing Norplant capsules than the standard technique.     

Women's health and the mass media: The reporting of risk

News about women's health risks is prevalent in the mass media, and how that news is presented is important for the women who uses it to make decisions about her health. Conferees at a Jacobs Institute symposium reviewed the presentation and discussion of risk factors in scientific articles and the subsequent translation of this information by the media to their consumers. The symposium participants made four major recommendations to improve the reporting of risk: 1) as information sources, the scientific community, institutions, and media organizations should share the responsibility of clearly presenting information on risk factors affecting women's health, 2) institutional public affairs officers, journal public affairs officers, and mass media editors should require that reports on single studies be placed within the context of current scientific knowledge, with limitations prominently described, 3) measures of absolute and relative risk should be interpretable by a general audience, and 4) news makers (the scientific community) and news writers (reporters and editors) should have more training opportunities to achieve a clearer understanding of the constraints on the news media and the limitations of science.     

Mass Media, Secular Trends, and the Future of Cardiovascular Disease Health Promotion: An Interpretive Analysis

Mass media roles in promoting cardiovascular health in the context of lessons learned from major U.S. community studies, changing media technology, and emergent models of media-community partnerships are discussed. Three principal issues are explored: (1) implications of the current expansion, convergence, and harmonization of mass media technology;(2) recent trends in media coverage of heart disease and population practices; and (3) implications for the future relationship between the media and public health in cardiovascular health promotion. It is concluded that classic campaign models focusing on individual-level change have evolved to recognize environmental-level influences on behavior. Emergent public health campaign models have moved toward “agenda-building,” in which the focus is on a more unified approach to influencing public and community agendas for social, behavioral, and policy change. Recent developments among the commercial mass media may offer new opportunities for public health partnerships to promote cardiovascular health.