Abstract
Introduction:
Congestive heart failure (CHF) remains an epidemic with rising prevalence and a contributing cause of 1 in 9 deaths in the United States. An understanding of internet search engines for congestive heart failure as informational and initial diagnostic tools may enable targeted education strategies.
Hypothesis:
There is a correlation between CHF google search and outcomes.
Methods:
We used google trends, a publicly available google tool, to identify search frequency for CHF and related terms like early signs of heart failure, congestive heart failure facts over a 2 year period from 2014-2016 across regions of the United States. We then evaluated the prevalence of hospitalization and mortality rates among Medicare beneficiaries based on Center for Disease Control (CDC) data. Utilizing Pearson correlation (R) test, we determined the association between relative search frequency (RSF) in various states versus CHF hospitalization and mortality rates.
Results:
Across the 50 states in United States, there were 25 searches related to the search terms. There was a moderate positive correlation (R 0.4-0.7) between CHF hospitalization (R= 0.43) and mortality (R=0.51) with relative search frequency in google trends.
Conclusions:
We demonstrated a correlation between internet search and CHF prevalence and hospitalization. The emergence of data analytics in CHF care may enable greater understanding of patient questions in CHF to better target education and prevention.