Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on population level interest in Skincare: Evidence from a google trends-based Infodemiology study

BackgroundCOVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented disruption of daily life including the pattern of skin related treatments in healthcare settings by issuing stay-at-home orders and newly coronaphobia around the world. ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate whether there are any significant changes in population interest for skincare during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsFor the skincare, weekly RSV data were extracted for worldwide and 23 counties between August 1, 2016, and August 31, 2020. Interrupted time-series analysis was conducted as the quasi-experimental approach to evaluate the longitudinal effects of COVID-19 skincare related search queries. For each country, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model relative search volume (RSV) time series and then testing multiple periods simultaneously to examine the magnitude of the interruption. Multivariate linear regression was used to estimate the correlation between countries relative changes in RSV with COVID-19 confirmed cases/ per 10000 patients and lockdown measures. ResultsOut of 23 included countries in our study, 17 showed significantly increased (p<0.01) RSVs during the lockdown period compared with the ARIMA forecasted data. The highest percentage of increments occurs in May and June 2020 in most countries. There was also a significant correlation between lockdown measures and the number of COVID-19 cases with relatives changes in population interests for skincare. ConclusionUnderstanding the trend and changes in skincare public interest during COVID-19 may assist health authorities to promote accessible educational information and preventive initiatives regarding skin problems.