Twenty-year infodemiology of bone sarcomas in France (2006–2026): celebrity effect, lexical gap, and limited online impact of awareness campaigns - 22/08/26
, Alexandre Rochwerger b, Jean-Camille Mattei bAbstract |
Background |
Primary bone sarcomas — osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and chondrosarcoma — are rare malignant tumours with insufficient public awareness. Infodemiology through Google Trends (GT) enables analysis of population-level interest in these entities over time. No French analysis covering a long observation period has been published. This study addresses three specific questions: (1) Is celebrity-driven media exposure the primary driver of public online interest in bone sarcomas? (2) Do Sarcoma Awareness Month campaigns (July) generate a measurable increase in search volume? (3) Is there a quantifiable lexical gap between lay and expert terminology, and what are its implications?
Methods |
Monthly GT data (June 2006 – June 2026, n = 241 months) were extracted using both "terms" and "topics" modes for five query groups: osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, sarcoma (generic term), chondrosarcoma, and lay terminology ("bone cancer", "bone tumour"). Secular trends were analysed by linear regression, the July effect by Mann–Whitney test, and inter-entity correlations by Spearman coefficient, with multiplicity correction using the Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) procedure.
Results |
Lay terminology generated a median Search Volume Index (SVI) of 56 [51–60] versus 14 [11–18] for osteosarcoma, 8 [2–11] for Ewing sarcoma, and 4 [3–5] for chondrosarcoma (×13 gap vs chondrosarcoma). The osteosarcoma series showed a sustained high-volume period temporally associated with the media trajectory of Xana Martínez (peak ×7.1 above baseline, August 2019); as Google Trends measures online search behaviour rather than direct campaign or media exposure, these associations remain descriptive. Ewing sarcoma showed the strongest secular trend (R² = 0.253). No July effect was significant after FDR correction for any group (all q ≥ 0.373). All inter-entity sarcoma correlations were significant (q < 0.001). Two of four lay–sarcoma correlations were non-significant (ρ = −0.142 to −0.124, NS); Ewing sarcoma and generic sarcoma each showed a significant negative correlation with lay terminology (ρ = −0.265 and −0.153 respectively, both q < 0.05).
Discussion |
Public interest in bone sarcomas over twenty years has been structured by celebrity events rather than institutional campaigns. The lexical gap (×13 vs chondrosarcoma, ×4.0 vs osteosarcoma) and the near-invisibility of chondrosarcoma have direct implications for NETSARC + communication strategy and diagnostic delay reduction.
Level of evidence |
IV; Retrospective observational study (analysis of publicly available data).
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Keywords : Bone sarcoma infodemiology (Google Trends/Search Volume Index/French online interest), Celebrity effect (media-driven search peaks), Awareness campaign impact (Sarcoma Awareness Month/July effect/FDR correction), Lexical gap (bone cancer/bone tumour/expert terminology), Sarcoma entity visibility (Osteosarcoma/Ewing sarcoma/chondrosarcoma/generic sarcoma), Diagnostic-delay communication (NETSARC+/golf-ball threshold/GP referral/Search Engine Optimization strategy)
Plan
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