P1259 A 15-year analysis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Africa using Google Trends
Authors: Moran H , Elmahdi R , Brusco de Freitas M , Munk A K , Jess T 
Published: January 2025

Background

Currently, much of Africa’s inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) epidemiology status is unknown.1 While a few observational studies suggest a rise in incidence, alternative methods are necessary to gather widespread data on IBD until systematically collected health data become available. Google Trends has been used to study specific diseases and symptoms through an epidemiological lens, and knowledge of its capabilities continues to expand in the healthcare field.2 Google has maintained between 92-97.5% of the market share of search engines in Africa since January 2009.3 Due to this widespread use, previous studies have utilized Google’s search data to track global trends in search patterns. The aim of this study was to analyze 15-years of the IBD search interest throughout Africa to investigate the rapidly increasing interest in IBD in the nations with the least amount of recorded epidemiological data worldwide.

Methods

Using the Google Trends platform, we investigated three search terms, "Inflammatory bowel disease (Condition)," "Crohn’s Disease (Disease)," and "Ulcerative colitis (Disease)," as well as the 2023 associated top topics and rising topics in all African countries with available data between the years 2009 and 2023.

Results

We found a marked increase in search interest for IBD within every African country where data were available over the last 15 years. The interest was related to both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), with some differences between countries. The search term "Inflammatory bowel disease (Condition)" saw an increase in search interest rise from 3 countries in 2009 to 29 in 2023; "Crohn’s Disease (Disease)" saw an increase in search interest data rise from 4 countries in 2009 to 39 in 2023; "Ulcerative colitis (Disease)" saw an increase in search interest rise from 5 countries in 2009 to 32 in 2023. These increases occurred gradually over the 15 years studied. Additionally, up to 75% of the most frequent Top Topics searched for with IBD were categorized as symptom- or diagnosis-related topics. The Top Topics varied across the continent and were of rising frequency in the latest year (2022 to 2023). Central African countries had the most limited searches on topics related to IBD.

Conclusion

Our results show a striking and increasing awareness of IBD in Africa which helps to fill current gaps in the epidemiological understanding of IBD on the African continent. Analyzing Google Trends, we observed an increasing interest in both symptom and diagnosis related knowledge over the past 15 years, which likely mimics an increase in cases diagnosed with IBD. Google Trends data may represent a novel way to assess incidence and prevalence of diseases in areas with limited access to health data.

References

1.Hodges P, Kelly P. Inflammatory bowel disease in Africa: what is the current state of knowledge?. Int Health. 2020;12(3):222-230. doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihaa005

2.Nuti SV, Wayda B, Ranasinghe I, et al. The use of google trends in health care research: a systematic review. PLoS One. 2014;9(10):e109583. Published 2014 Oct 22. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109583

3.Search Engine Market Share Africa | Statcounter Global Stats [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jun 19]. Available from: https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/africa/#monthly-200901-202405

AI was not used to assist with writing this abstract.