LAUSR

Correlation of Google search interest for vitiligo with race and ethnicity: a nationwide, population-based study Dear Editor, Social media has become increasingly prevalent in dermatology as a source of health-related information regarding skin conditions; however, to our knowledge, there has not been a study evaluating the demographics of those searching for information on vitiligo online on a population level. Previous studies have documented the psychosocial burden of vitiligo, and limited information suggests that darker skin types experience greater impairment of quality of life than their lighter-skinned counterparts. We hypothesize that those more adversely affected by vitiligo would be more likely to seek information about vitiligo online. Our study examines whether individuals of color search for vitiligo more frequently than their white counterparts. We used Google Trends, an online platform that provides free access to search requests made on the online search engine Google, to obtain the relative search interest for “vitiligo” by state from January 1, 2004, to January 3, 2022. Google search interest is a measure of relative popularity of a search term. It is calculated by dividing the number of searches for a term by the total number of Google searches conducted in a given region. This number is transformed to a 0–100 scale. We also extracted the racial/ethnic breakdown, population, and median income for each state from the US Census Bureau as of July 1, 2021. We fit linear regression models to predict Google search interest in vitiligo as a function of percent of non-white residents, controlling for population and median income. Multiple linear regression revealed an independent association between increased proportions of non-white residents and Google search interest in vitiligo (P = 0.000), with a 1% increase in non-white residents associated with a 0.3% increase in the 1– 100 scaled Google search interest for vitiligo. Increased state population was also independently associated with relative Google search interest in vitiligo (p = 0.002). The descriptive statistics and results of the univariate and multivariate linear regression models are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The global prevalence of vitiligo has been estimated to be 0.4–2%, with no difference recorded among racial/ethnic groups. However, our research indicates that the online search interest for vitiligo differs at a population level based on the racial/ethnic makeup of a state, with greater search interest for vitiligo in states with a higher proportion of non-white residents, while controlling for population size and median income. This may indicate that non-white populations, despite having an equivalent prevalence of vitiligo, may be more significantly affected and consequently be more likely to search out information online about this condition. Further studies should explore the reasons for this disparity and examine the links between online resource utilization and impact on quality of life among individuals with vitiligo.