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Published in: Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy 1/2022

01-01-2022 | COVID-19 | Original Article

Google trends in “anatomy”: pre-pandemic versus during COVID-19 pandemic

Authors: Anjali Singal, Agam Bansal

Published in: Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy | Issue 1/2022

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the present study was to assess the online search behavior for the keyword “anatomy” worldwide and to compare the pre-pandemic and during COVID-19 pandemic scenario for the same.

Methods

Google trends tool was used for the assessment of the search behavior for the term “anatomy”. The data, i.e. relative search volume (RSV) were downloaded for this term using the all categories, web search and only YouTube settings during a period from 1.1.2019 to 3.31.2021 from www.​trends.​google.​com. The geographic trends for this search query were plotted across the world.

Results

Seasonal peaks were observed for the search term “anatomy” during the first 3 months of the year and in months of September, October and November in 2019. Similar seasonal peaks were observed for the year 2020 except that there was sudden decrease in RSV for term “anatomy” in the month of March. Though trend for the rest of the year was same, but there was general lower RSV in 2020. The country with highest search hit was United States followed by Canada, Ireland, Australia and Philippines.

Conclusion

The search trend for pre-pandemic and pandemic period was similar with overall lower RSV during 2020, where it noticeably decreased during the initial phase of lockdown, i.e. in the month of March. As the whole world is still in the COVID-19 pandemic era, the future studies may report the google trends once the pandemic is over and may compare the post-pandemic trend for the same.
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Metadata
Title
Google trends in “anatomy”: pre-pandemic versus during COVID-19 pandemic
Authors
Anjali Singal
Agam Bansal
Publication date
01-01-2022
Publisher
Springer Paris
Keyword
COVID-19
Published in
Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy / Issue 1/2022
Print ISSN: 0930-1038
Electronic ISSN: 1279-8517
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-021-02806-6

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