Online indicators
The popularity of internet search terms may also indicate the seasonality of health conditions. Using Google AdWords Keyword Planner, German researchers assessed searches associated with pruritis. “Over the course of the seasons, there was a higher monthly search volume during the colder half of the year,” said the researchers.5
Google Trends Data for ‘psoriasis’ as a search term indicates statistically significant (p<0.025) peaks in late winter/early spring, and troughs in late summer/early autumn for the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.6
Searches for ‘cold sores’ have also peaked in winter months.7