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The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Searching for Health-Related Information and Cyberchondria on the General Population in Italy

Objectives: The Internet has become one of the most common sources people use to search for health-related information, a behavior rapidly increased during the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The present study aimed to investigate behavioral patterns in the online health-related searches...

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Autores principales: Vismara, Matteo, Vitella, Daniele, Biolcati, Roberta, Ambrosini, Federica, Pirola, Veronica, Dell'Osso, Bernardo, Truzoli, Roberto
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8546113/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34712159
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.754870
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author Vismara, Matteo
Vitella, Daniele
Biolcati, Roberta
Ambrosini, Federica
Pirola, Veronica
Dell'Osso, Bernardo
Truzoli, Roberto
author_facet Vismara, Matteo
Vitella, Daniele
Biolcati, Roberta
Ambrosini, Federica
Pirola, Veronica
Dell'Osso, Bernardo
Truzoli, Roberto
author_sort Vismara, Matteo
collection PubMed
description Objectives: The Internet has become one of the most common sources people use to search for health-related information, a behavior rapidly increased during the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The present study aimed to investigate behavioral patterns in the online health-related searches and Cyberchondria (CYB) during the COVID-19 pandemic time, in order to explore socio-demographic and psychopathological factors related to CYB. Methods: During the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, a cross-sectional online survey collected the main socio-demographic variables and habits related to Internet use of 572 participants. CYB was measured by the Cyberchondria Severity Scale-Short Version and different psychopathological factors were measured by specific questionnaires: the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Short Health Anxiety Inventory, the Meta-Cognitions about Health Questionnaire, the Internet Addiction Test, the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Questionnaire-Short Version, the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and the WHO Quality of Life-BREF. Descriptives, non-parametric ANOVAs, and Spearman correlations were performed. Results: In the present sample, the Internet was the main source participants used to search for health-related information and nearly one-third increased this habit during the pandemic. Higher expression of CYB emerged in females, in younger participants, in students, and in those suffering from a physical/psychiatric illness. CYB showed a positive correlation with different phenomenology of anxiety (i.e., anxiety about COVID-19, health anxiety, general anxiety, metacognitive believes about anxiety) and with depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and problematic usage of the Internet. Conversely, quality of life and self-esteem showed a negative correlation with CYB. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of the Internet for health-related information and CYB contribute to the psychological stress affecting individuals and society. Delineating subjects more vulnerable to CYB and associated psychopathological factors will help to elaborate operational indications for prevention and psychological support.
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spelling pubmed-85461132021-10-27 The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Searching for Health-Related Information and Cyberchondria on the General Population in Italy Vismara, Matteo Vitella, Daniele Biolcati, Roberta Ambrosini, Federica Pirola, Veronica Dell'Osso, Bernardo Truzoli, Roberto Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Objectives: The Internet has become one of the most common sources people use to search for health-related information, a behavior rapidly increased during the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The present study aimed to investigate behavioral patterns in the online health-related searches and Cyberchondria (CYB) during the COVID-19 pandemic time, in order to explore socio-demographic and psychopathological factors related to CYB. Methods: During the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, a cross-sectional online survey collected the main socio-demographic variables and habits related to Internet use of 572 participants. CYB was measured by the Cyberchondria Severity Scale-Short Version and different psychopathological factors were measured by specific questionnaires: the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Short Health Anxiety Inventory, the Meta-Cognitions about Health Questionnaire, the Internet Addiction Test, the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Questionnaire-Short Version, the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and the WHO Quality of Life-BREF. Descriptives, non-parametric ANOVAs, and Spearman correlations were performed. Results: In the present sample, the Internet was the main source participants used to search for health-related information and nearly one-third increased this habit during the pandemic. Higher expression of CYB emerged in females, in younger participants, in students, and in those suffering from a physical/psychiatric illness. CYB showed a positive correlation with different phenomenology of anxiety (i.e., anxiety about COVID-19, health anxiety, general anxiety, metacognitive believes about anxiety) and with depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and problematic usage of the Internet. Conversely, quality of life and self-esteem showed a negative correlation with CYB. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of the Internet for health-related information and CYB contribute to the psychological stress affecting individuals and society. Delineating subjects more vulnerable to CYB and associated psychopathological factors will help to elaborate operational indications for prevention and psychological support. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8546113/ /pubmed/34712159 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.754870 Text en Copyright © 2021 Vismara, Vitella, Biolcati, Ambrosini, Pirola, Dell'Osso and Truzoli. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Vismara, Matteo
Vitella, Daniele
Biolcati, Roberta
Ambrosini, Federica
Pirola, Veronica
Dell'Osso, Bernardo
Truzoli, Roberto
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Searching for Health-Related Information and Cyberchondria on the General Population in Italy
title The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Searching for Health-Related Information and Cyberchondria on the General Population in Italy
title_full The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Searching for Health-Related Information and Cyberchondria on the General Population in Italy
title_fullStr The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Searching for Health-Related Information and Cyberchondria on the General Population in Italy
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Searching for Health-Related Information and Cyberchondria on the General Population in Italy
title_short The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Searching for Health-Related Information and Cyberchondria on the General Population in Italy
title_sort impact of covid-19 pandemic on searching for health-related information and cyberchondria on the general population in italy
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8546113/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34712159
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.754870
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