Public Search Behavior and Tuberculosis Cases in Indonesia 2019-2023: An Infodemiology Method Using Google Trends

<ns3:p> Abstract* Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health challenge in Indonesia, which ranks second globally in 2024. As the 2030 elimination target approaches, gaps in early detection and public education persist. The public’s tendency to seek health information online before consulting professionals presents an opportunity to leverage infodemiology for public health surveillance. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the relationship between multi-term Google search trends and annual TB report data in Indonesia to disseminate the potential use of digital search data as a complementary indicator for epidemiological surveillance. Methods A cross-sectional design was adopted to analyze the relationship between search volumes for 53 TB-related terms on Google Trends and official Indonesia Health Profile data from 2019 to 2023 across 34 provinces. Case data were normalized (0–100) to reflect the Relative Search Volume (RSV). Statistical analysis was performed using the Spearman correlation test to assess the relationship between digital searches and actual cases. Results A consistently strong and positive correlation between TB search terms and case numbers across 34 Indonesian provinces (p &lt; 0.001). Key correlations included “Characteristics of Pulmonary TBC ( <ns3:italic>Ciri TBC paru</ns3:italic> )” (r = 0.722) and “Pulmonary TBC Medicine ( <ns3:italic>Obat TBC paru</ns3:italic> )” (r = 0.739) in 2019, “Characteristics of Pulmonary TB ( <ns3:italic>Ciri TB Paru</ns3:italic> )” and “TB Prevention ( <ns3:italic>Pencegahan TB</ns3:italic> )” (r = 0.704) in 2020, “Characteristics of Pulmonary TB ( <ns3:italic>Ciri TBC Paru</ns3:italic> )” (r = 0.731) and “Childhood Pulmonary TB ( <ns3:italic>TB Paru anak</ns3:italic> )” (r = 0.707) in 2021, “Pulmonary TB Drugs ( <ns3:italic>Obat TBC Paru</ns3:italic> )” (r = 0.782) and “Characteristics of Tuberculosis ( <ns3:italic>Ciri Tuberkulosis</ns3:italic> )” (r = 0.709) in 2022, as well as “Characteristics of Tuberculosis ( <ns3:italic>Ciri Tuberkulosis</ns3:italic> )” (r = 0.731) in 2023. Conclusion Google Trends data correlated strongly with official TB epidemiological data in Indonesia. These results suggest digital search trends can serve as complementary indicators to conventional surveillance and early warning systems. </ns3:p>