Online Public Interest in Cancer During the COVID-19 Pandemic

PURPOSE Health care priorities of individuals may change during a pandemic, which may, in turn, affect health services utilization. We examined Canadians' online relative search interest five common solid tumors (breast, colon, lung, prostate, and thyroid) the COVID-19 pandemic to that observed same months prior 5 years. METHODS conducted cross-sectional retrospective study using Google Trends aggregate anonymous data from Canada. compared respective volumes for breast, thyroid cancers March-November 2020 with mean 2015-2019. Welch's two-sample t tests were performed raw P values then adjusted Benjamini-Hochberg procedure correct multiple comparisons. The level statistical significance was defined by choosing false discovery rate at .05 primary analysis. RESULTS temporary statistically significant reductions various cancers, largely early spring 2020. Specifically, (after adjustment comparisons) breast cancer April, May, October 2020; colon March April lung September prostate May Thyroid not significantly different those pandemic. CONCLUSION Although temporarily waned recent are