Authors: David G Ingram Camilla K Matthews David T Plante
Publish Date: 2014/03/05
Volume: 19, Issue: 1, Pages: 79-84
Abstract
Internet search engine query data were retrieved from Google Trends from January 2006 to December 2012 Monthly normalized search volume was obtained over that 7year period in the USA and Australia for the following search terms “snoring” and “sleep apnea” Seasonal effects were investigated by fitting cosinor regression models In addition the search terms “snoring children” and “sleep apnea children” were evaluated to examine seasonal effects in pediatric populationsStatistically significant seasonal effects were found using cosinor analysis in both USA and Australia for “snoring” p 000001 for both countries Similarly seasonal patterns were observed for “sleep apnea” in the USA p = 0001 however cosinor analysis was not significant for this search term in Australia p = 013 Seasonal patterns for “snoring children” and “sleep apnea children” were observed in the USA p = 0002 and p 000001 respectively with insufficient search volume to examine these search terms in Australia All searches peaked in the winter or early spring in both countries with the magnitude of seasonal effect ranging from 5 to 50 Our findings indicate that there are significant seasonal trends for both snoring and sleep apnea internet search engine queries with a peak in the winter and early spring Further research is indicated to determine the mechanisms underlying these findings whether they have clinical impact and if they are associated with other comorbid medical conditions that have similar patterns of seasonal exacerbationDr Plante is supported by unrelated research grants from the American Sleep Medicine Foundation Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health K23MH099234 We would also like to thank Logan Zweifel for his assistance in collection of Internet data utilized in this study
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