Public Interest in Elective Urological Procedures in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Google Trends Analysis.
Academic Article
Overview
abstract
INTRODUCTION: We sought to characterize public interest in elective urological procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and specifically after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the American Urological Association recommended cessation of all nonessential procedures. METHODS: We extracted relative search volumes from Google Trends™ (January 2015 to May 2020) for keywords related to the 4 procedure categories of male infertility, erectile dysfunction, Peyronie's disease and vasectomy. The most popular keywords in each category were used to assess immediate (30 days preceding and following official recommendation from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on March 18, 2020) and long-term (January 1, 2015 to March 18, 2020 vs March 19, 2020 to May 21, 2020) shifts in public interest. Lastly, we assessed geographical variations in public interest during the phase I reopening period from April 24 to May 31, 2020. RESULTS: There was an immediate reduction in interest across all 4 categories following the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recommendation. Long-term post-announcement relative search volume was lower than pre-announcement relative search volume in all categories as well, namely male infertility (54.33% vs 68.74%, p=0.02), erectile dysfunction (45.00% vs 76.74%, p <0.0001), Peyronie's disease (48.33% vs 77.95%, p <0.0001) and vasectomy (51.33% vs 66.73%, p=0.0005). During the phase I reopening period the relative search volume for vasectomy was higher in states that reopened early than in states that reopened late (60.29% vs 50.52%, p=0.029). CONCLUSIONS: Public interest in elective urological procedures decreased following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and recommendations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Interest rebounded in May, seemingly driven by states that lifted their stay-at-home order earlier than others.
