Factors Associated with Internet Searches for Exercise during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil: an Infodemiological Study using Google Trends. (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND The current Covid-19 pandemic has led several nations to adopt social distancing and isolation measures. Some studies have already used Google Trends as a data recovery tool on various topics, such as the increase in the search for chloroquine and derivatives after pronouncements by political authorities. A relevant issue to be discussed is the increase in physical inactivity with social distancing measures, which may increase the numbers of another pandemic: the sedentary lifestyle and its associated comorbidities. Other question is if the Google Trend can be an efficient instrumental of measure the interest of physical activity and exercise. OBJECTIVE Investigate changes in the online search patterns for exercise and the influence of social isolation and socioeconomic variables during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. METHODS Google Trends was used to recover the search volume on the topic "Physical Exercise", in the category "fitness and beauty", during two periods: the five previous years and from January 1, 2020 to May 16, 2020. The cutoff date was March 12. After this cutoff, the actual search volume and the values predicted by exponential smoothing were compared using Student’s t test. Two linear regression models were created. In the first, the search volume for the second period was the outcome variable and the Government Response Stringency Index (GSRI) was the predictive variable. In the second model, the dependent variable was the difference between the values before and after the cutoff point, by Brazilian state. The predictive variables tested were: Percentage of Social Isolation; Access to the Internet; mHDI; Household Income per Capita and the Ranking of Physical-Activity-Friendly Cities. RESULTS There was a difference of 29.8% between the variables in the first analysis. GSRI explained 51.2% of the variation in search volume and the second model explained 42% of the changes in the outcome variable. CONCLUSIONS There was a significant increase in the search for terms related to the topic Physical Exercise and this search increase is associated with the isolation measures and the Brazilian socioeconomic conditions.