The Association Between Internet Searches and Moisturizer Prescription in Japan: Retrospective Observational Study

BACKGROUND: Heparinoid is a medication prescribed in Japan for skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and dry skin. Heparinoid prescription has increased with instances of internet blogs recommending its use as a cosmetic. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the prescription trends in moisturizer use and analyze their association with internet searches. METHODS: We used a claims database to identify pharmacy claims of heparinoid-only prescriptions in Japan. Additionally, we used Google Trends to obtain internet search data for the period between October 1, 2007, and September 31, 2017. To analyze the association between heparinoid prescriptions and internet searches, we performed an autoregressive integrated moving average approach for each time series. RESULTS: We identified 155,733 patients who had been prescribed heparinoid. The number of prescriptions increased from 2011 onward, and related internet searches increased from 2012 onward. Internet searches were significantly correlated with total heparinoid prescription (correlation coefficient=.25, P=.005). In addition, internet searches were significantly correlated with heparinoid prescription in those aged 20-59 years at –1-month lag in Google Trends (correlation coefficient=.30, P=.001). CONCLUSIONS: Google searches related to heparinoid prescriptions showed a seasonal pattern and increased gradually over the preceding several years. Google searches were positively correlated with prescription trends. In addition, in a particular age group (20-59 years), prescriptions increased with the increase in internet searches. These results suggest that people obtained health-related information on the internet and that this affected their behavior and prescription requests.