Letter to Editor: Google trend tells us search ergonomic solutions during COVID-19 pandemic was increased
Dear Editor
Recently, Wu, Kevin A. et al. Published a valuable article in your journal [1]. It shows the applicability of studying trends including the trends which is provided with Google, in gaining knowledge about hot topics in the field of Occupational health and Safety. I want to present this letter in response to their valuable article. Our article shares the same value of this topic for your readers.
From late 2019, the COVID-19 is at the top of the world’s news and has been able to attract the most people’s attention. In response to this pandemic, lifestyle and behaviour of the people have changed. One of the most important behavioural changes in people has been the introduction of self-quarantine and teleworking [2, 3]. These behavioural changes have made people in need of relevant health solutions [4]. Internet-related data provides useful information on the most common knowledge searched by internet users worldwide [5]. So that some studies have shown internet analysis service like Google trends could potentially demonstrate the needed solutions and strategies [6]. One of the health solutions needed by people during this pandemic is to optimize the environment and what they do [7]. Ergonomics or Human Factors is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions and optimizing these interactions among humans and other elements of a system. The application of solutions which was introduced by this discipline were presented by Gurses et al [8]. In the following part, we briefly present the searches of people related to ergonomics in the time period associated with COVID-19 pandemic.
Relevant information has been collected weekly from 7/5/2015 to 5/5/2020. For a closer look, the epidemic in Wuhan, China and the day which was pandemic has been declared by the World Health Organization has been marked with two signs. In the following chart, which is related to the search, it is clear from the average chart that the search trend has been increasing, so that after the announcement of the pandemic, this statistic has had an upward trend.
Ergonomic Keyboard
A similar pattern is also found in the search for the phrase “Ergonomic Mouse”.
There was a positive correlation between positive cases of COVID-19 and the search terms “Ergonomic Keyboard” and “Ergonomic Mouse”.
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Informed consent
Not applicable.
Conflict of interest
Not declared.
Acknowledgments
Not applicable.
Funding
Not applicable.
References
[1] | Wu KA , Anastasio AT , Kim JK , Choudhury A , Adams SB . Evaluating the impact of work from home policies on Google search Trends related to ankle surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Work. (2024) ;Preprint: :1–6. |
[2] | Shaw R , Kim Y-k , Hua J . Governance, technology and citizen behavior in pandemic: Lessons from COVID-19 in East Asia. Progress in Disaster Science. (2020) ;6: :100090. |
[3] | Emerick GS , Zandonade E , Prado CBd , Pires LBC , Bezerra O , ıvia Maria de Paula A , et al.. Morbimortality profile by COVID-19 in telework and on-site work in an oil and gas company in Brazil. Work. (2024) ;Preprint: :1–11. |
[4] | Springer S , Menzel LM , Zieger M . Google Trends provides a tool to monitor population concerns and information needs during COVID-19 pandemic. Brain Behav Immun. (2020) ;87: :109–10. |
[5] | Husnayain A , Fuad A , Su EC-Y . Applications of Google Search Trends for risk communication in infectious disease management: A case study of the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. (2020) ;95: :221–3. |
[6] | Strzelecki A . The second worldwide wave of interest in coronavirus since the COVID-19 outbreaks in South Korea, Italy and Iran: A Google Trends study. Brain Behav Immun. (2020) ;88: :950–1. |
[7] | Gülşah B , Suner-Keklik S . Effects of short-term upper extremity exercise training in office workers during COVID-19 restrictions: A randomized controlled trial. Work. (2024) ;Preprint: :1–13. |
[8] | Gurses AP , Tschudy MM , McGrath-Morrow S , Husain A , Solomon BS , Gerohristodoulos KA , et al.. Overcoming COVID-19: What can human factors and ergonomics offer? Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management. (2020) ;25: (2):49–54. |
