Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate whether patient needs are being met by ophthalmologists by using Google Trends data as a marker for patient desire for ophthalmologic care.
Methods :
We obtained data from the Area Health Resources File, the US Department of Health and Human services, the American Society of Retinal Specialists, SF Match, and the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology. Ophthalmologic search interest was determined by using Google Trends data for “glaucoma”, “cataract”, “uveitis”, “macular degeneration”, and “diabetic retinopathy”. Using ordinary least squares regression with independent variables obtained from these datasets, we aimed to predict both the total number of ophthalmologists and the total number of retinal specialists per 100,000 individuals.
Results :
Among the factors that were studied, only the number of vitreoretinal surgery fellows (OR: 0.71, 95% CI 0.56-0.89, p:4.22e-04) provided significant predictive value for ophthalmologists per 100,000. No factor provided significant predictive value for the number of vitreoretinal surgeons per 100,000. State population, the number of residents, and the number of fellows per state were significantly associated with both outcomes. However, their odds ratios were trivially separated from one, and provided no predictive value. Ophthalmologic and retinal specific search interest was not significantly associated with either outcome.
Conclusions :
We found that Google trends data, in conjunction with demographic information and graduation rates of residents and fellows, was poorly predictive of ophthalmology provider density. Additionally, ophthalmology search interest was not associated with overall ophthalmologist or retinal specialist density, suggesting that ophthalmologists are choosing to practice in locations independently of where interest is greatest. Additional efforts should be made to identify methods to coordinate the availability of care with the interest.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.