Infodemiology Meets Pharmacoepidemiology: Search Trends and National Drug Use Patterns for Pain-related Medications in Türkiye

Objective: Musculoskeletal system diseases are a significant global health burden, frequently requiring long-term pharmacological management. While con- ventional databases offer reliable drug consumption data, they often fail to reflect dynamic public interest. Google Trends, as a real-time digital surveillance tool, can provide complementary insights by capturing health-related online search behaviors. This study aimed to evaluate the association between national pharmaceutical consumption and public interest in musculoskeletal and nervous system drugs in Türkiye between 2015 and 2022. Materials and Methods: This retrospective descriptive study integrated OECD pharmaceutical consumption statistics with Google Trends data for selected keywords. Drug use was assessed via per capita expenditure and percentage of total pharmaceutical sales. Relative search volume values were extracted and normalized for keywords such as “painkiller,” “muscle relaxant,” and “osteoarthritis.” Results: Strong positive correlations were identified between analgesic consumption and RSVs for keywords including “painkiller” and “muscle relaxant” (r=0.922, p=0.001), “muscle pain” (r=0.898, p=0.002), and “joint pain” (r=0.826, p=0.011). No significant associations were found for musculoskeletal or an- ti-inflammatory drugs. In turnover-based analyses, certain keywords—especially “joint rheumatism” and “osteoarthritis”—were associated with specific drug categories. Negative correlations between musculoskeletal drug sales and general pain-related searches may suggest a public inclination toward symp- tom-based treatment. Conclusion: Google Trends data closely mirror analgesic consumption patterns, indicating their potential as digital proxies for pharmaceutical demand. Inte- grating such digital tools with traditional data sources may enhance public health surveillance and guide policy decisions.