Association Between Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scores and Online Activity Among US Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Analysis

Autor: Parvati Singh, Tim-Allen Bruckner, William G. Cumberland, Sean D. Young, Dominic Arjuna Ugarte
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Male
Cross-sectional study
Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7
Severity of Illness Index
scores
stress
0302 clinical medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
GAD
lcsh:Public aspects of medicine
anxiety
Anxiety Disorders
Population study
Anxiety
lcsh:R858-859.7
Female
medicine.symptom
Coronavirus Infections
Psychology
Clinical psychology
Adult
cross-sectional
medicine.medical_specialty
Generalized anxiety disorder
Substance-Related Disorders
Pneumonia
Viral
online activity
Binge drinking
Health Informatics
lcsh:Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics
Binge Drinking
Betacoronavirus
03 medical and health sciences
medicine
Humans
survey
generalized anxiety disorder
Pandemics
Original Paper
Internet
SARS-CoV-2
Information seeking
Public health
COVID-19
lcsh:RA1-1270
medicine.disease
Health Surveys
United States
Cross-Sectional Studies
Linear Models
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Zdroj: Journal of Medical Internet Research, Vol 22, Iss 9, p e21490 (2020)
Journal of Medical Internet Research
ISSN: 1438-8871
Popis: Background Evidence from past pandemics suggests that fear, uncertainty, and loss of control during large-scale public health crises may lead to increased pandemic-related information seeking, particularly among persons predisposed to high anxiety. In such groups, a greater consumption of information pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic may increase anxiety. Objective In this study, we examine the association between online activity and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) scores in the United States. Methods We recruited participants for an online survey through advertisements on various platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Reddit. A total of 406 adult US participants with moderate to severe (≥10) GAD-7 scores met the inclusion criteria and completed the survey. Anxiety levels measured using the GAD-7 scale formed our primary outcome. Our key independent variables were average daily time spent online and average daily time spent online searching about COVID-19 within the past 14 days. We used as controls potential confounders of the relation between our key independent variables and GAD-7 scores, namely, sleep quality, the COVID-19 Fear Inventory scale, binge drinking, substance use, prescription drug abuse, and sociodemographic attributes. Results Linear multivariate regression analyses showed that GAD-7 scores were higher among those who spent >4 hours online (per day) searching for information about COVID-19 (coefficient 1.29, P=.002), controlling for all other covariates. The total time spent online was not statistically associated with GAD-7 scores. Conclusions Results from this study indicate that limiting pandemic-related online information seeking may aid anxiety management in our study population.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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