Usage patterns of oral H1-antihistamines in 10 European countries: A study using MASK-air (R) and Google Trends real-world data

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2022

Authors

Vieira, RJ (Author) FMUP; Sousa Pinto, B (Author) FMUP; Anto, JM (Author) Other; Sheikh, A (Author) Other; Klimek, L (Author) Other; Zuberbier, T (Author) Other; Fonseca, J (Author) FMUP; Bousquet, J (Author) Other

Journal

Title: World Allergy Organization Journal

Vol. 15

ISSN: 1939-4551

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 5 Citations

Scopus - 7 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00W-RKD

DOI: 10.1016/j.waojou.2022.100660

Abstract (EN): Real-world data represent an increasingly important source of knowledge in health care. However, assessing their representativeness can be challenging. We compared (i) real-world data from a mobile app for allergic rhinitis (MASK-air (R)) on the usage of oral H1-antihistamines from 2016 to 2020 in 10 European countries with (ii) Google Trends data on the relative volume of searches for such antihistamines. For each country, we sorted 5 different oral H1-antihistamines by their frequency of use and volume of searches. We found perfect agreement on the order of antihistamine use in MASK-air (R) and in Google Trends searches in 4 countries (France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). Different levels of agreement were observed in the remaining countries (kappa coefficient from -0.50 to 0.75). Oral H1-antihistamine data from Google Trends and MASK-air (R) were consistent with nationwide medication sales data from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. These results suggest that MASK-air (R) data may be consistent with other sources of real-world data, although assessing the representativeness of their users may require further studies.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 6