Association of COVID-19 with lifestyle behaviours and socio-economic variables in Turkey: An analysis of Google Trends

This study aims to examine the relationship between COVID-19 cases/deaths and Google data on lifestyle behaviours and socio-economic variables in Turkey. The data of the research are composed of Google Trends search volume for various words related to socio-economic conditions, nutritional attitudes, indoor behaviour, outdoor activities and confirmed COVID-19 case and death data from the Ministry of Health from 31 December 2019 to 31 January 2021. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship between the Google search volumes of selected keywords and COVID-19 case and deaths. In addition, repeated ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were performed to compare the differences in search volumes of selected keywords before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. Correlation analysis showed that the strongest variables in each category were vitamin C, zinc, Zoom, online shopping, hotel, market, gym, unemployment and unemployment benefit. Compared to previous years, during the pandemic, there was a significant increase or decrease in the search volumes of almost all words. These results showed that the COVID-19 significantly changed people's online interests regarding lifestyle behaviours and socio-economic conditions. It is thought that the findings can guide health policies to be followed in reducing the effects of both behavioural changes and negative socio-economic consequences.