Using the Baidu index to understand Chinese interest in thyroid related diseases

Online public concern about allergic rhinitis and its association with COVID-19 and air quality in China: an informative epidemiological study using Baidu index

BACKGROUND

Allergic rhinitis is a common health concern that affects quality of life. This study aims to examine the online search trends of allergic rhinitis in China before and after the COVID-19 epidemic and to explore the association between the daily air quality and online search volumes of allergic rhinitis in Beijing.

METHODS

We extracted the online search data of allergic rhinitis-related keywords from the Baidu index database from January 23, 2017 to June 23, 2022. We analyzed and compared the temporal distribution of online search behaviors across different themes of allergic rhinitis before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, using the Baidu search index (BSI). We also obtained the air quality index (AQI) data in Beijing and assessed its correlation with daily BSIs of allergic rhinitis.

RESULTS

The online search for allergic rhinitis in China showed significant seasonal variations, with two peaks each year in spring from March to May and autumn from August and October. The BSI of total allergic rhinitis-related searches increased gradually from 2017 to 2019, reaching a peak in April 2019, and declined after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the first half of 2020. The BSI for all allergic rhinitis themes was significantly lower after the COVID-19 pandemic than before (all p values < 0.05). The results also revealed that, in Beijing, there was a significant negative association between daily BSI and AQI for each allergic rhinitis theme during the original variant strain epidemic period and a significant positive correlation during the Omicron variant period.

CONCLUSION

Both air quality and the interventions used for COVID-19 pandemic, including national and local quarantines and mask wearing behaviors, may have affected the incidence and public concern about allergic rhinitis in China. The online search trends can serve as a valuable tool for tracking real-time public concerns about allergic rhinitis. By complementing traditional disease monitoring systems of health departments, these search trends can also offer insights into the patterns of disease outbreaks. Additionally, they can provide references and suggestions regarding the public's knowledge demands related to allergic rhinitis, which can further be instrumental in developing targeted strategies to enhance population-based disease education on allergic diseases.

The blurry lines between popular media and party propaganda: China's convergence culture through a linguistic lens

There is a growing body of scholarly evidence that media convergence blurs the boundary between media production and media consumption and obscures the lines between institutions and individuals. Media convergence in the context of China has garnered attention in communication studies and in cultural studies. However, there is a scarcity of research on convergence culture from a linguistic perspective. Recent research has generated initial evidence that state media appropriates a pop-cultural social address for clickbait and information management in China's digital media space. However, the patterns and perceptual reality of linguistic convergence remain unexplored. This study investigates popular and party uses of xiaojiejie 'little older sister', a familiar expression of fictive kinship reborn as a viral personal reference and social address in China's convergence culture. Analysis of the Target Group Index in the Baidu search engine suggests xiaojiejie is gaining ground over its predecessor among young Chinese. Trends analysis of its usage in WeChat public accounts showed that the term has spread from popular media to state media, which employs the viral address to drive clickbait and disguise propaganda. An online survey of young Chinese WeChat users (N=330) on their perception of xiaojiejie headlines from WeChat public accounts showed that respondents could not tell state media uses from popular uses, providing perceptual evidence of the blurry boundaries between popular and state media uses of the viral address. The findings demonstrate the reality of linguistic convergence driven by participatory performance and its perceptual consequences in China's convergence culture.

Spatiotemporal distribution of migraine in China: analyses based on baidu index

BACKGROUND

In recent years, innovative approaches utilizing Internet data have emerged in the field of syndromic surveillance. These novel methods aim to aid in the early prediction of epidemics across various scenarios and diseases. It has been observed that these systems demonstrate remarkable accuracy in monitoring outbreaks even before they become apparent in the general population. Therefore, they serve as valuable complementary tools to augment existing methodologies. In this study, we aimed to investigate the spatiotemporal distribution of migraine in China by leveraging Baidu Index (BI) data.

METHODS

Migraine-related BI data from January 2014 to December 2022 were leveraged, covering 301 city-level areas from 31 provincial-level regions by using the keyword "migraine ()". Prevalence data from the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD) were attracted to ensure the reliability of utilizing migraine-related BI data for research. Comprehensive analytical methods were then followed to investigate migraine's spatiotemporal distribution. The Seasonal-Trend decomposition procedure based on Loess (STL) was used to identify the temporal distribution. Spatial distribution was explored using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic, standard deviation ellipse analysis, Moran's Index, and Ordinary Kriging. The top eight migraine-related search terms were analyzed through the Demand Graph feature in the Baidu Index platform to understand the public's concerns related to migraine.

RESULTS

A strong association was observed between migraine-related BI and the prevalence data of migraine from GBD with a Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.983 (P = 4.96 × 10- 5). The overall trend of migraine-related BI showed a gradual upward trend over the years with a sharp increase from 2017 to 2019. Seasonality was observed and the peak period occurred in spring nationwide. The middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River were found to be hotspots, while the eastern coastal areas had the highest concentration of migraine-related BI, with a gradual decrease towards the west. The most common search term related to migraine was "How to treat migraine quickly and effectively ()".

CONCLUSIONS

This study reveals important findings on migraine distribution in China, underscoring the urgent need for effective prevention and management strategies.