Abstract
The Sars-Cov-2 virus originated in China and rapidly spread globally beginning 2019. Strict travel and social mobilization restrictions were among the earliest policies released to contain the virus, affecting various aspects of health. This study describes the relationship between COVID-19 in the Philippines and internet search volumes for topics related to diet and physical activity before and a year into the pandemic. Information from websites Google Trends, Our World in Data, and Filipino newspapers were utilized in this cross-sectional study. A list of 20 popular search terms was created. Relative search volumes for each of these 20 topics, data on weekly COVID-19 cases, and definition and information on previous COVID-19 restrictions in the Philippines from 1 year pre- and post-pandemic were obtained. A T-test compared pre- and post-pandemic mean relative search volumes. A Spearman-Rank correlation determined the relationship of RSVs to COVID-19 cases. Internet searching for terms “Caloric Deficit”, and “Nutrition Facts Label” significantly increased while internet searching for terms “Intermittent Fasting”, “Low Carbohydrate Diet”, “Mental Health”, “Dance”, “Physical Fitness”, and “Ketogenic Diet” significantly decreased. COVID-19 cases were positively correlated to RSVs of terms “Maternal Health”, “Physical Activity”, “Aerobic Exercise”, and “Mental Health”, while negatively correlated to the term “Nutrition Facts Label”. The study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in significant differences in internet searching for health-related topics, and that COVID-19 cases were significantly correlated to internet searching for these topics, supporting existing research on the field.
Presenters
Patricia PenalesResident Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of the Philippines - Philippine General Hospital, Philippines
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Metabolic Health, Google Trends, Internet Searching, COVID-19
