A 15-year analysis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Africa using Google Trends

Currently, much of Africa’s inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) epidemiology status is unknown.1 While a few observational studies suggest a rise in incidence, alternative methods are necessary to gather widespread data on IBD until systematically collected health data become available. Google Trends has been used to study specific diseases and symptoms through an epidemiological lens, and knowledge of its capabilities continues to expand in the healthcare field.2 Google has maintained between 92-97.5% of the market share of search engines in Africa since January 2009.3 Due to this widespread use, previous studies have utilized Google’s search data to track global trends in search patterns. The aim of this study was to analyze 15-years of the IBD search interest throughout Africa to investigate the rapidly increasing interest in IBD in the nations with the least amount of recorded epidemiological data worldwide.