Infodemiological data concerning silicosis in the USA in the period 2004–2010 correlating with real-world statistical data
Nicola Luigi Bragazzi,
Guglielmo Dini,
Alessandra Toletone,
Francesco Brigo,
Paolo Durando
Affiliations
Nicola Luigi Bragazzi
School of Public Health, Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), University of Genoa, Via Antonio Pastore 1, Genoa 16132, Italy
Guglielmo Dini
Department of Health Sciences, Postgraduate School in Occupational Medicine, University of Genoa and Occupational Medicine Unit, I.R.C.C.S. University Hospital San Martino - IST National Institute for Cancer Research, Genoa, Italy
Alessandra Toletone
Department of Health Sciences, Postgraduate School in Occupational Medicine, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
Francesco Brigo
Department of Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy
Paolo Durando
Department of Health Sciences, Postgraduate School in Occupational Medicine, University of Genoa and Occupational Medicine Unit, I.R.C.C.S. University Hospital San Martino - IST National Institute for Cancer Research, Genoa, Italy
This article reports data concerning silicosis-related web-activities using Google Trends (GT) capturing the Internet behavior in the USA for the period 2004–2010. GT-generated data were then compared with the most recent available epidemiological data of silicosis mortality obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the same study period. Statistically significant correlations with epidemiological data of silicosis (r=0.805, p-value <0.05) and other related web searches were found. The temporal trend well correlated with the epidemiological data, as well as the geospatial distribution of the web-activities with the geographic epidemiology of silicosis.
