Scientific and Public Interest in Bariatric Surgery for Obesity: The Italian Scenario

Background: Obesity is an escalating concern in our society. Bariatric surgery appears to be the only feasible alternative for severe obesity. This study aims to conduct an integrative analysis of the Italian context concerning bariatric surgery, with a specific focus on the surgical procedures of sleeve gastrectomy, mini-gastric bypass, and gastric bypass. Methods: The analysis is based on bibliometric data extracted from the Scopus database to find Italian publications in this field from 2012 to 2022. Along with scientific interest, it is essential to assess the level of public interest in these topics. Google Trends is the most extensively utilized free tool for the analysis of online behavior. Using Google Trends data, we analyzed the amount of internet volume searches (Relative Search Volume = RSV) for the Italian terms "sleeve gastrectomy", "mini-gastric bypass" and "gastric bypass", both temporally (from 2012 to 2022 years) and geographically. Furthermore, to illustrate the Italian landscape, we compared Google Trends data with data from the Italian registry "Societa Italiana di Chirurgia dell'Obesita e delle malattie metaboliche" (SICOB), which includes information about bariatric surgery procedures performed in the country. Results: Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the scientific literature on sleeve gastrectomy, mini-gastric bypass, and gastric bypass surgeries in Italy. Google Trends data has shown an increase in online public interest in these surgical procedures, from 2012 to 2022. The examination of the Google Trends information combined with the SICOB data demonstrated a remarkable association between the two data sets. Conclusions: Bariatric surgery has increased quickly in Italy in terms of scientific research and surgical interventions. The analysis of Google Trends data in conjunction with data from SICOB has revealed an interesting correlation between the two datasets therefore, Google Trends can be useful for estimating the demand for bariatric surgical procedures.