Impact of public sector health recommendations on diabetes mellitus information searches during the covid-19 pandemic
| Autor | Irene Bosch-Frigola/Misericordia Carles-Lavila/Fernando Coca-Villalba |
| Cargo del Autor | Universidad San Jorge/Universidad Rovira i Virgili/Universidad San Jorge |
| Páginas | 994-1009 |
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CAPÍTULO 46
IMPACT OF PUBLIC SECTOR HEALTH
RECOMMENDATIONS ON DIABETES MELLITUS
INFORMATION SEARCHES DURING
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
IRENE BOSCH-FRIGOLA
Universidad San Jorge
MISERICORDIA CARLES-LAVILA
Universidad Rovira i Virgili
FERNANDO COCA-VILLALBA
Universidad San Jorge
RESUMEN
On 14 March 2020, in Spain, a state of alarm was declared owing to the COVID-19
pandemic. Given the seriousness of the pandemic and to protect public health, the
Spanish government carried out a series of information campaigns to raise public
awareness of the pandemic and convey general health measures to be adopted.
Moreover, specific recommendations were disseminated to groups with a history of
chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus (DM) (a non-communicable disease
(NCD)).
DM causes high direct and indirect costs to society and is a concern for governments
and international public and private health institutions. It is a chronic metabolic
disorder that, if not properly treated, can severely affect a patient’s health. To pre-
vent or slow down the chronic complications and death caused by DM, patients
need to approach this condition comprehensively, through considerable discipline,
environmental support, and help from specialists to follow the appropriate guide-
lines. Proper metabolic control can only be achieved if patients’ behavioural patterns
towards this pathology are favourable and they are willing to follow recommenda-
tions from relevant (official) health-related sources and assimilate healthy behaviours.
Using current online health resources, it is possible to monitor the interest of indi-
viduals towards certain diseases. Based on techniques such as monitoring certain
spaces on the web, especially those disseminating health information provided by
official bodies, public interest in certain areas related to health can be observed.
This research aims to analyse public interest in health-related information, specifical-
ly DM, in 2020 through the Online Health Information Seeking Behaviour
(OHISB).
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The study has been carried out by analysing the time trends of the Google Trends to
assess the change in the Relative Search Volume (RSV) as an indicator of the OHISB
in the month before and after the government campaigns began. It was conducted in
three phases: data collection through the Google Trends, data analysis within the
context of awareness-raising actions carried out by the government, and interpreta-
tion of results. The analysis was carried out in March and April 2020, coinciding
with the publication of government recommendations for people with chronic
health conditions
KEYWORDS
COVID-19; Diabetes Mellitus; Public Health
1. INTRODUCCIÓN
1.1 HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO HAVE PROPER DIABETIC CONTROL
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder which, if not
properly managed, can cause irreversible health problems (American
Diabetes Association, 2021). DM is listed together with cancer, chron-
ic lung disease and stroke, as a Non-Communicable Disease (NCD),
and is one of the ten leading causes of death in the world (Lin, X et al.
2020; World Health Organization, 2018 b). According to INE
(2020), DM was one of the causes of death that increased most during
the first five months of 2019 in Spain, with 5110 people dying.
Faced the prevalence of this disease, preventing or slowing down the
chronic complications of DM, caring for chronic patients, as well as
trying to avoid the mortality caused indirectly by poor control of DM,
is the main goal of different private and public global bodies (Balbus,
J.M et al. 2013; World Health Organization, 2013; World Health
Organization, 2018a). Ultimately, this situation has impacted on the
healthcare resources, particularly on the management of these resour-
ces (Garcia-Goñi, et al. 2012; García-Soidán, et al. 2017; Misra, A et
al. 2019). It is therefore imperative to raise public awareness about the
importance of preventing NCDs, from an early age until old age
(Brumana et al. 2017; World Health Organization, 2018b).
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