Ocular-symptoms-related Google Search Trends during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe

PURPOSE: To investigate the correlation between the daily relative search volume (RSV) of keywords related to coronavirus and ocular symptoms, and the numbers of the daily coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) new cases and new deaths in Europe using Google Trends (GT). METHODS: The RSVs of the selected keywords related to coronavirus and ocular symptoms between 24 January and 1 June 2020 in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany and Turkey were accessed from GT. The numbers of daily COVID-19 new cases and new deaths in the same time interval in the aforementioned countries were compared with the RSVs of the keywords and terms. RESULTS: The United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Turkey were the most affected countries from the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. In these countries, statistically significant and strong correlations were found between the daily RSVs of most keywords related to coronavirus and ocular symptoms, and the daily numbers of COVID-19 new cases and new deaths ranging from 0.175 to 0.807. CONCLUSIONS: Ocular symptoms are not the frequent signs of COVID-19, but the ocular surface is a possible route for the transmission of COVID-19. The preliminary outcomes of this study demonstrated that there are significant correlations with the ocular symptoms and COVID-19. The news about the relation of eye and COVID-19 in the mass media may have influenced the Google internet search activity of the public for ocular symptoms.