Agreement with COVID-19 disinformation among Portuguese-speaking older adults: an international study

OBJECTIVES: to assess agreement with COVID-19 disinformation among Portuguese-speaking individuals aged 50 years or older. METHODS: a descriptive and analytical study involving 1,214 older adults born in Portuguese-speaking countries. Data collection occurred through online information mining to recognize COVID-19 and disinformation content, and the application of a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: agreement with disinformation content was 65.2%. Residing outside Brazil is a protective factor for agreement with disinformation content, and those who believe in the truthfulness of the information sources they receive were 31% more likely to agree with disinformation content. CONCLUSIONS: there is a high prevalence of disinformation among the older population in two Portuguese-speaking countries, which should raise the attention of healthcare professionals and guide coping strategies.