LLYC MAKES THE FIRST DIGITAL RADIOGRAPHY OF THE HEALTH OF MEXICANS

In order to better understand the needs of patients, LLYC conducted the first “Digital Radiography of Mexican health” with analysis tools of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques with which managed to study more than 16.8M searches of patients and caregivers and more than 500K mentions in conversations of people involved in health issues.

It is important to comment that in the country there are more than 93 million Mexicans, 72% of the population, connected to the Internet and spend an average of 4.5 hours, of them 50% of Mexicans use the Internet to obtain information about diseases or health products, including medicines, almost 40% consult their symptoms on the Internet. This places Mexico 16 percentage points above the average of global and European Internet users.

According to Luis Anaya, Director of Healthcare Northern Region at LLYC, the study showed that we have a reactive rather than a preventive culture when it comes to diagnosis and disease.
(with the exception of COVID19), which opens the opportunity to promote a culture of prevention in almost all diseases that afflict Mexico, thus helping to impact health systems in a positive way and reduce the burden of chronic or high impact diseases.

“It is important to comment that the LLYC study shed light on the significant impact of the digital ecosystem on health and information seeking habits among Mexicans. With a focus on patient experience and access to health information, the detailed analysis highlights concerning trends and areas of opportunity to improve healthcare awareness and care in Mexico.”

According to Tania Navarrete, Deep Learning Manager at LLYC Mexico, the study also revealed that nearly 40% of Mexicans turn to the internet to search for information about symptoms and diseases. This number is significantly higher than the global average, indicating a strong reliance on digital sources for medical information. Among the most notable findings is the high interest in cancer 2.7 million searches and diabetes with 2.8 million, the two high mortality diseases in the country. However, there is also a lack of attention to cardiovascular diseases, despite being the leading cause of death in Mexico, they only generate a little more than 800 thousand searches.

In addition, the study showed that online conversations about cancer, breast cancer is the leader of the conversation with more than 683 thousand monthly searches, followed by liquid tumors. Notably, only a small percentage of these conversations 2 percent address new treatments or innovative therapies, suggesting a need for greater awareness and access to treatment options that open up the possibility of modifying the patient’s pathway.
It is important to comment that in breast cancer, 35% of women want to understand the disease they are facing, and one out of every 5 searches are related to the symptoms of this condition, it is necessary to show that on this point it is important to point out some symptoms that are not always highlighted in prevention campaigns, such as pain in the arm-neck-back pain or fluid secretion.

According to Tania Navarrete, “70% of mentions occur within the framework of the ephemeris (October), the conversation becomes much more specific and allows us to identify the concerns and problems faced by a patient and caregiver, which opens up the opportunity to generate campaigns that go beyond the ephemeris but above all that make reference to what the patient needs, such as the mention of the different symptoms that could help trigger a more timely diagnosis”.

Luis Anaya pointed out that “The most important thing that we detect in the topic of breast cancer is that the patient is moving away from the conversation of the fight for their rights, what the patient is really interested in is support in patient programs, and above all emotional support to be able to face this catastrophic disease.”

“In addition we see the nuances of a women’s disease where 99 percent of the caregivers or those who ask questions only mainly daughters, granddaughters, nieces or friends, which indicates the low support of the partner or man in a disease like this” commented Luis Anaya.

Another highlight of the study is the influence of generations. Younger people will buy specialized skin care products, closely related to the stage of life they are going through with the search for items that enhance appearance. This also reflects the fact that younger generations are increasingly concerned about skin care, while millennials will be the most likely to want to get rid of cough and flu symptoms and are approaching Generation X with their consumption of heartburn products. This last problem has increased in both age groups due to stress and the hectic pace of life.

“Finally it is important to comment that this study provides valuable insight into how Mexicans interact with health information in the digital environment,” said Luis Anaya Director of Health at LLYC, who also commented that “It is critical that both healthcare providers and policymakers recognize the importance of these findings and work to improve the quality and accessibility of online health information as well as use this information for better decision making.

“We believe it is fundamental to understand the bidirectional role of communication in the digital realm, focusing health strategies on the real needs of patients and caregivers which implies taking advantage of digital conversations and searches to improve decision making,” concluded Luis Anaya.

This translation was done with AI.