Online Information-Seeking Behavior Regarding Vitreous Floaters in the United States: Google Trends Analysis.

BACKGROUND

Vitreous floaters are a prevalent phenomenon, with some patients experiencing persistent symptoms that substantially degrade their vision. Public interest and information-seeking behavior regarding vitreous surgery are challenging to quantify using claims alone.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to evaluate temporal and geographic patterns of public interest in vitreous floaters and related interventions in the United States and to contextualize this interest relative to retina specialist availability.

METHODS

In this retrospective observational study, we queried Google Trends for search terms originating in the United States from 2008 to 2025. We extracted the relative search volume (RSV) using a composite of terms combined with the Google Trends "+" operator. State-level counts of vitreoretinal surgeons from the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) database were used to calculate surgeon density per 100,000 population. We calculated a search-to-surgeon index (SSI) as the ratio of state-level RSV to retina surgeon density to serve as an exploratory metric of public interest relative to specialist availability. We evaluated associations using the Mann-Kendall trend test, Sen slope, and Spearman correlation.

RESULTS

From 2008 to 2025, nonsurgical RSV increased by 138%, demonstrating a significant temporal increasing trend (τ=0.600; P<.001). States with a higher proportion of residents aged 40 years or older demonstrated higher RSV (ρ=0.51; P<.01). The median SSI was 123 (IQR 100-127; range 48-311). Surgical RSV increased by 133% (τ=0.443; P<.001). The median surgical SSI was 133 (IQR 107-164; range 34-341).

CONCLUSIONS

This analysis demonstrates substantial geographic variability in public interest in vitreous floaters across the United States. Integrating Google Trends data with surgeon distribution provides an exploratory framework for evaluating relative interest in vitreoretinal care, though it does not directly measure clinical demand.