Abstract
Purpose :
To characterize how media coverage and direct-to-consumer advertising affected public interest in 1.25% pilocarpine drops based on Google Trends analysis of internet search traffic.
Methods :
Retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study. Relative search volume databases were generated by Google Trends for keywords related to 1.25% pilocarpine using searches in the United States from January 1, 2004 to June 14, 2022. All data extraction and analyses were conducted on June 14, 2022. All queries entered into Google search engine within the United States during study period were extracted. Changes in monthly relative search volumes were calculated for keywords “presbyopia”, “vuity”, “pilocarpine”, and “pilocarpine presbyopia”, following October 2021 FDA approval and March 2022 commercial advertisement.
Results :
From January 2004 through October 2021 , relative search volumes (RSV) demonstrated a mean (SD) RSV of 0.005% (0.07) for “vuity”, 61.30% (10.33) for “presbyopia”, 41.97% (7.91) for “pilocarpine”, and 1.44% (7.67) for “pilocarpine presbyopia”. Mean RSV from November 2021 through February 2022 increased to 21.75% for “vuity”, a percent change of +465339.8%, 89.75% for “presbyopia”, a percent change of +46.4%, 55.75% for “pilocarpine”, a percent change of +32.8%, and 37.50%, for “pilocarpine presbyopia”, a percent change of +2505.5%. All terms further increased from March 2022 through June 2022. Average RSV increased to 74.00%
for “vuity”, an additional percent change of +240.2%, 91.67% for “presbyopia”, a percent change of +2.1%. 86.67% for “pilocarpine”, a percent change of +55.5%, and 61.00% for “pilocarpine presbyopia”, a percent change of +62.7%.
Conclusions :
Both press coverage following regulatory body approval and direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns for 1.25% pilocarpine HCl were associated with an increase in internet search traffic for related keywords. Google Trends may represent a convenient tool with powerful analytical insights into rapidly emerging patterns in public interest.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.