Multiple sclerosis and related disorders
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Mult Scler Relat Disord · Jul 2014
Web search behavior for multiple sclerosis: An infodemiological study.
Millions of people worldwide use the Internet daily as a source of health information. Google is the most popular search engine and is used by patients and physicians to search for online health-related information. This study aimed to evaluate changes in Web search behavior occurring in English-speaking countries over time for the term "multiple sclerosis" (MS). ⋯ Most people appear to use search engines to look for MS to obtain information on symptoms, possibly to aid initial self-diagnosis. News on celebrities with MS seem to be a major factor that influences online search behavior.