Smoking and COVID-19 search engine trends: An explanatory study

ABSTRACT Background: Smokers are generally more susceptible to infectious respiratory diseases and are at higher risk of developing severe complications from the infections. SARS-Cov-2 is a new virus, which was first identified in December 2019, and has rapidly spread into a global pandemic of primarily respiratory illness designated as Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Smokers are at greater risk for respiratory infections and were expected to be at increased risk for COVID-19 as well. Conflicting reports exist regarding the impact of smoking on the risk of COVID-19. Aim and Objectives: To conduct the exploratory analysis of Internet search volumes of smoking and COVID-19 using Google trends. Methodology: The aim of this research is to see if there is a correlation between global search patterns and smoking and COVID. The time frame can range from November 2019 to March 2021, which can be divided into months or days. Seven different search terms have been explored and compared based on the highest related search volume and comma related search volume to obtain the highest search traffic. Results: The search volume measured over time noted “smoking and COVID” to be the most searched term in South Africa and least in France. The years of the search terms are high when there is a surge in the COVID cases. Conclusion: The result from the present study offers an insight into a competent tool that can analyse and compare oral diseases over time. This tool can be utilised in forecasting, modulating marketing strategies and planning disability limitation techniques.