Celebrities influence on rheumatic diseases interest: a Google Trends analysis

Celebrity-related events have influenced public interest in diseases like cancer, but their impact on rheumatic diseases is poorly investigated. We aimed to investigate whether celebrity-related events may account for atypical interest among Google users in rheumatic diseases. We used Google Trends to generate the relative search volume of 24 adult rheumatic diseases. We visually analyzed global time trends and recorded all dates with unusual spikes of interest. Finally, we used the Google search engine to detect media news related to rheumatic disease that may explain the spikes. The majority of atypical spikes in global interest were attributable to celebrity-related events, such as diagnosis, flare, or death due to rheumatic disease. Examples include Venus Williams with Sjögren's syndrome, Lady Gaga with fibromyalgia, Selena Gomez with lupus, Phil Mickelson with psoriatic arthritis, and Ashton Kutcher with vasculitis. Celebrity-related events may have a substantial influence on global interest in rheumatic diseases among Google users. These findings suggest that leveraging the attention generated by celebrities can be a powerful tool in raising awareness and promoting research efforts for rheumatic diseases. Future studies could leverage Google Trends to gauge the influence of celebrity events or health campaigns on rheumatic disease awareness.