Impact of global public health days on online health-information-seeking behavior related to substance use: An analysis of five-year data

Abstract

The United Nations Organizations observe various global public health days (GPHDs) (also known as world days) throughout the year. We aimed to assess the impact of GPSDs on online health information-seeking behavior related to substance use in the Indian context. We used the Google Trends data for this study using standard guidelines. We conducted a topic search for the query “Substance abuse” to capture online information-seeking behavior (OHISB) for substance use disorder-related searches. The data were analyzed using the Joinpoint Regression software. Joinpoint regression model analysis was conducted to determine the statistically significant daily percent change (DPC) in the RSV trend. We found that there were significant changes in OHISB for substance use-related disorders on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking over the last five years. The increase in the pattern of online search for substance use-related information was not observed around the World No Tobacco Day, World Mental Health Day, and World Suicide Prevention Day. Since most of these world health days are likely to continue to be observed in the coming years, it is important to regularly assess their impact as well as make the necessary modifications to make them more effective in achieving the desired objectives.