Changes in Internet Search Term Popularity in Elder Mistreatment (2018-2023): Infodemiology Study of Google Trends Data

Background: Elder mistreatment (EM) is a significant public health problem that is frequently underdetected and underreported. Insufficient public recognition and engagement have been hypothesized as one contributor to this underreporting; however, few data sources exist to quantify public awareness or engagement with EM at the population level. Objective: This study examined relative internet search interest in EM compared with other forms of abuse (child abuse and domestic violence) in the United States using Google Trends data. Methods: We analyzed Google Trends data to compare the Relative Search Index (RSI) for the terms "elder abuse," "child abuse," and "domestic violence" in the United States from December 2018 to December 2023. RSI values reflect normalized search activity relative to the maximum search volume within the specified period. Results: Mean RSI values for "elder abuse" were substantially lower than those for "child abuse" (11.35 vs 50.21) and "domestic violence" (6.96 vs 63.50). Ad hoc tests for stationarity indicated that RSI values for all 3 terms remained stable over the 5-year study period. During Elder Abuse Awareness Month, RSI for "elder abuse" increased relative to "child abuse" and "domestic violence" by 8.3 and 5.7 points, respectively, compared with other months of the year. Conclusions: Relative search interest in elder abuse appears to be persistently lower than that for child abuse and domestic violence, despite modest increases during Elder Abuse Awareness Month. Although Google Trends does not provide a validated measure of public awareness, search-based metrics such as RSI may offer a scalable, low-cost complement to traditional data sources for contextualizing public engagement with EM and informing future awareness, detection, and prevention efforts.