Eye symptoms due to environmental and climatic parameters variation: The Google trends and eye-drops selling as monitors

• Published in: Medical hypotheses 2023-06, Vol.175, p.111076, Article 111076
• Main Authors: Ferraz, Felipe Barbosa Galvão Azzem, Cintra, Beatriz Carneiro, de Olivieira, Marina Madureira, Machado, Gabriel Pinheiro, Fantucci, Marina Zilio, de Paiva, Cintia S, Pontelli, Regina, Garcia, Denny Marcos, Rocha, Eduardo Melani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Climate; CO2; Dry eye disease; Environment; NO2; Ozone; Particulate matter; Pollutant
• ISSN: 0306-9877; 1532-2777
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2023.111076

Climate and pollution challenges have been increasing over the last decades. The eyes are susceptible to those challenges. Modern life allows the population to search internet engine tools for information regarding eye symptoms. Drug sales are globally monitored to orient the actions of pharmaceutical companies. Monitoring those two big data sources of information (i.e., trends in internet search of eye diseases and symptoms and eye drop sales) can be correlated with climate and pollution data of the same locations and time to create standards capable of alerting about climate and pollution challenges. The present hypothesis is that climate and pollution level changes correlate with an increase in the search for ocular discomfort on the internet and the sales volume of symptomatic-relieving eye drops, providing a new tool to people’s health and preventive medicine. The potential correlation with statistical significance and a reliable confidence interval will allow using these correlations as tools to monitor remotely and to compare the parameters among different regions and over time. The benefits are to provide subsidies to public health strategies to predict and minimize climatic and environmental parameters effects.