Contraceptive Search Trends After Türkiye's 2023 Earthquakes: A Google Trends Analysis

Authors : Salih Keskin, Türkan Günay

Pages : 345-356

Doi:10.35232/estudamhsd.1695806

View : 140 | Download : 342

Publication Date : 2025-11-06

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The February 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in Türkiye caused widespread devastation, significantly disrupting health services, including reproductive health, which is often neglected in disaster response. Assessing reproductive health needs post-disaster is logistically challenging. This study leverages digital epidemiology to investigate the earthquake’s impact on online information-seeking for birth control methods across eleven affected provinces. We analyzed weekly birth control-related search probability metrics from the Google Trends Research API (January 2022–December 2023), employing multilingual knowledge graph queries for enhanced coverage in diverse populations. The 12-week post-earthquake period was compared to the immediate pre-earthquake and 2022 baseline periods using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, supplemented by time-series decomposition and anomaly detection. A significant, immediate decline in contraceptive searches occurred post-earthquake across most analyzed provinces compared to both reference periods. Recovery patterns varied markedly by earthquake impact severity; heavily affected provinces (e.g., Hatay, Kahramanmaraş) showed prolonged reductions, while less affected regions (e.g., Elazığ, Diyarbakır) stabilized faster. Regional factors like high baseline fertility (Şanlıurfa) were observed with sustained search interest. In contrast, low-population areas (Kilis) yielded minimal data, highlighting methodological limitations for Google Trends in low-search contexts. The initial sharp decline and recovery observed in online searches underscore the persistent underlying importance of reproductive health post-disaster, necessitating the timely restoration and integration of contraceptive services within response frameworks. Despite limitations, this novel digital surveillance approach provides valuable real-time insights into public health needs during crises, emphasizing the need to prioritize equitable contraceptive access, potentially through digital tools, in disaster settings.
Keywords : Kontraseptif, deprem, zaman serisi analizi, Google Trends

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