TY - JOUR

T1 - Burden of atopic dermatitis in Europe

T2 - A population-centred approach leveraging web search data in 21 European countries

AU - Wecker, Hannah

AU - Ziehfreund, Stefanie

AU - Sitaru, Sebastian

AU - Johansson, Emma K.

AU - Elberling, Jesper

AU - Doll, Anaïs

AU - Nicolaidou, Electra

AU - Scala, Emanuele

AU - Boffa, Michael J.

AU - Schmidt, Lea

AU - Sikora, Mariusz

AU - Torres, Tiago

AU - Chernyshov, Pavel V.

AU - Zink, Alexander

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Background: The complexity, high prevalence, and substantial personal and socioeconomic burden collectively render atopic dermatitis (AD) a major public health concern. Using crowdsourced Internet data has the potential to provide unique insights into this concern, as demonstrated by several previous studies. However, a comprehensive comparison across European countries remains lacking. Objectives: The study aimed to investigate AD-related web searches across Europe to assess spatiotemporal variations and associations between disease-related and external factors. Methods: AD-related web search data were extracted for 21 European countries between February 2019 and January 2023. Descriptive analysis and autocorrelation functions were performed to examine spatiotemporal patterns. Correlations (r) were used to evaluate the associations between web searches and disease-related, socioeconomic and meteorological data. Results: Over 241 million AD-related web searches were identified, with search volume varying substantially among European countries (p < 0.001) and correlating with AD prevalence and disease burden (both r = 0.51, p = 0.019). Search volume increased between 2019 and 2023 in all countries and seasonally peaked in January and March. Negative correlations with median population age (r = −0.46, p = 0.039), number of general practitioners (r = −0.29, p = 0.226) and specialists (r = −0.27, p = 0.270) were observed. Moderate to strong correlations were found between search volume and cold, humid and windy weather with fewer sunshine hours, while higher online interest typically occurred 1–3 months after such weather conditions. Conclusion: The study highlights the great potential of online crowdsourced data analysis, for example, to investigate the impact of climate change or to identify unmet needs at a population level. Furthermore, the growing online interest in AD and the corresponding seasonal peaks emphasize the necessity of adapting treatment plans, intensifying public health campaigns, and disseminating reliable online information by governments and healthcare providers, especially during these periods.

AB - Background: The complexity, high prevalence, and substantial personal and socioeconomic burden collectively render atopic dermatitis (AD) a major public health concern. Using crowdsourced Internet data has the potential to provide unique insights into this concern, as demonstrated by several previous studies. However, a comprehensive comparison across European countries remains lacking. Objectives: The study aimed to investigate AD-related web searches across Europe to assess spatiotemporal variations and associations between disease-related and external factors. Methods: AD-related web search data were extracted for 21 European countries between February 2019 and January 2023. Descriptive analysis and autocorrelation functions were performed to examine spatiotemporal patterns. Correlations (r) were used to evaluate the associations between web searches and disease-related, socioeconomic and meteorological data. Results: Over 241 million AD-related web searches were identified, with search volume varying substantially among European countries (p < 0.001) and correlating with AD prevalence and disease burden (both r = 0.51, p = 0.019). Search volume increased between 2019 and 2023 in all countries and seasonally peaked in January and March. Negative correlations with median population age (r = −0.46, p = 0.039), number of general practitioners (r = −0.29, p = 0.226) and specialists (r = −0.27, p = 0.270) were observed. Moderate to strong correlations were found between search volume and cold, humid and windy weather with fewer sunshine hours, while higher online interest typically occurred 1–3 months after such weather conditions. Conclusion: The study highlights the great potential of online crowdsourced data analysis, for example, to investigate the impact of climate change or to identify unmet needs at a population level. Furthermore, the growing online interest in AD and the corresponding seasonal peaks emphasize the necessity of adapting treatment plans, intensifying public health campaigns, and disseminating reliable online information by governments and healthcare providers, especially during these periods.

U2 - 10.1111/jdv.19989

DO - 10.1111/jdv.19989

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38641980

AN - SCOPUS:85191176671

JO - Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology

JF - Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology

SN - 0926-9959

ER -