Correlation Between Voluntary HIV Testing and Public Awareness of HIV Using Google Trends in Japan

Web-Based Search Volume for HIV Tests and HIV-Testing Preferences During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: Infodemiology Study

BACKGROUND

Research has found a COVID-19 pandemic-related impact on HIV medical services, including clinic visits, testing, and antiviral therapy initiation in countries including Japan. However, the change in trend for HIV/AIDS testing during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been explored extensively in the Japanese population.

OBJECTIVE

This infodemiology study examines the web-based search interest for two types of HIV tests, self-test kits and facility-based tests, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.

METHODS

The monthly search volume of queried search terms was obtained from Yahoo! JAPAN. Search volumes for the following terms were collected from November 2017 to October 2018: "HIV test," "HIV test kit," and "HIV test health center." The search term "Corona PCR" and the number of new COVID-19 cases by month were used as a control for the search trends. The number of new HIV cases in the corresponding study period was obtained from the AIDS Trend Committee Quarterly Report from the AIDS Prevention Foundation.

RESULTS

Compared to the search volume of "corona-PCR," which roughly fluctuated corresponding to the number of new COVID-19 cases in Japan, the search volume of "HIV test" was relatively stable from 2019 to 2022. When we further stratified by the type of HIV test, the respective web-based search interest in HIV self-testing and facility-based testing showed distinct patterns from 2018 to 2022. While the search volume of "HIV test kit" remained stable, that of "HIV test health center" displayed a decreasing trend starting in 2018 and has remained low since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 66%-71% of the search volume of "HIV test kits" was attributable to searches made by male internet users from 2018 to 2022, and the top three contributing age groups were those aged 30-39 (27%-32%), 20-29 (19%-32%), and 40-49 (19%-25%) years. On the other hand, the search volume of "HIV test health centers" by male users decreased from more than 500 from 2018 to 2019 to fewer than 300 from 2020 to 2022.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study found a notable decrease in the search volume of "HIV test health center" during the pandemic, while the search volume for HIV self-testing kits remained stable before and during the COVID-19 crisis in Japan. This suggests that the previously reported COVID-19-related decrease in the number of HIV tests mostly likely referred to facility-based testing. This sheds light on the change in HIV-testing preferences in Japan, calling for a more comprehensive application and regulatory acceptance of HIV self-instructed tests.

Assessing public perception and awareness of UK mandatory calorie labeling in the out-of-home sector: Using Twitter and Google trends data

Objectives

In 2021 the UK government announced a new obesity policy requiring large out-of-home food outlets to provide mandatory in-store calorie labeling on food and drink items. Public acceptability and engagement with obesity policies could influence the level of impact on wider public health particularly with population-level policies such as calorie labeling. This study aimed to examine public responses and awareness of the policy using social media (Twitter) comments and Google trends data.

Methods

This study examined responses to social media posts on Twitter (tweets) from the UK Department of Health and Social Care detailing the policy, implementation date and post-implementation information about the policy's enforcement. The sentiments of the tweets were coded and the number of likes and replies extracted. This study utilized google trends to examine public awareness of the policy by extracting weekly relative search volume for relevant phrases such as "calorie labeling."

Results

From the 276 replies/quote-tweet extracted, the majority expressed a negative sentiment toward the policy (N = 197/71.4%). There were fewer tweets expressing a positive sentiment (N = 25/8.7%) and a neutral/no sentiment (N = 54/19.6%). There was no difference in the number of "likes" or retweets between tweets expressing positive or negative sentiments. Five themes were identified expressing negative sentiments (most common being negative impacts on eating disorders). Google trends data revealed increased searches for "calorie labels/labeling" during the week of the policy enforcement compared to previous weeks in the last 5 years but no significant differences in searches for specific menu calorie labeling.

Conclusions

This analysis revealed negative sentiment toward and increased searching of calorie labeling information during the announcement and implementation of the 2021 mandatory calorie labeling policy in England. A greater understanding of public responses to calorie labeling policies may help tailor future policies and public communication strategies.

Workplace factors associated with willingness to undergo human immunodeficiency virus testing during workplace health checkups

BACKGROUND

To examine workplace factors associated with willingness to undergo human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing during workplace health checkups.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study used an Internet-based self-administered questionnaire to obtain data from a pool of 24,287 Japanese workers. Binary and multiple logistic regression analyses evaluated the association between workplace factors and HIV testing. Data were adjusted for sex, age, marital status, education, and history of HIV testing.

RESULTS

We gathered information from 4,143 (17.1%) respondents, of whom 1,129 (27.3%) were willing to be tested for HIV as part of a workplace health checkup. The participants were 20-59 years old. Approximately half of the participants were male (49.9%), half were married (48.9%), and half had completed higher education (47.6%). Workplace hepatitis testing was offered to 15.6% of the respondents, and most participants underwent health checkups without their colleagues (52.1%) at a medical facility (60.2%). Willingness to undergo HIV testing was positively correlated with having an increased risk of occupational blood exposure (vs. not at risk, adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.74, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.41-2.15) or working in medical and welfare roles (vs. manufacturing, OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.07-1.84). The presence of occupational health staff at the workplace (vs. their absence, adjusted OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.16-1.59) and hepatitis testing (vs. not testing, adjusted OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.66-2.44) increased willingness to undergo HIV testing.

CONCLUSIONS

A pilot HIV-testing program involving individuals at an increased risk of occupational blood exposure and undergoing hepatitis tests in workplaces providing occupational health staff support is recommended.