Using Google Trends and Wikipedia to Investigate the Global Public’s Interest in the Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis of a Celebrity

Vincenza Gianfredi, Daniele Nucci (), Mariateresa Nardi, Omar Enzo Santangelo () and Sandro Provenzano
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Vincenza Gianfredi: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Via Pascal, 36, 20133 Milan, Italy
Daniele Nucci: Nutritional Support Unit, Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS, Via Gattamelata, 64, 35128 Padua, Italy
Mariateresa Nardi: Nutritional Support Unit, Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS, Via Gattamelata, 64, 35128 Padua, Italy
Omar Enzo Santangelo: Regional Health Care and Social Agency of Lodi, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale di Lodi (ASST Lodi), Piazza Ospitale 10, 26900 Lodi, Italy
Sandro Provenzano: Local Health Unit of Trapani, ASP Trapani, 91100 Trapani, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-10

Abstract: A cross-sectional study was designed to assess the impact of a celebrity’s announcement of having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on the volume of cancer-related research on the Internet. Global searches were carried out on Google Trends (GT) for the period from 1 January 2004 to 20 November 2022 (since data prior to 2004 were not available) using the search words Tumore del Pancreas (pancreatic cancer), Tumore neuroendocrino (neuroendocrine tumor), and Fedez (the name of a popular Italian rapper). The frequency of specific page views for Fedez, Tumore del pancreas, and Tumore neuroendocrino was collected via Wikipedia Trends data. Statistical analyses were carried out using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). The GT data revealed a strong correlation (r = 0.83) while the Wikipedia Trends data indicated a moderate correlation (r = 0.37) for Tumore neuroendocrino and Tumore del pancreas. The search peaks for the GT and Wikipedia pages occur during the same time period. An association was found between the celebrity’s announcement of his pancreatic cancer diagnosis and the volume of pancreatic-cancer-related online searches. Our findings demonstrate that media events and media coverage of health-related news can raise people’s curiosity and desire for health information.

Keywords: pancreatic cancer; Google Trends; medical informatics computing; Wikipedia; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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