Dataset Information

COVID-19 prevention and treatment information on the internet: a systematic analysis and quality assessment.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the quality of information regarding the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 available to the general public from all countries. DESIGN:Systematic analysis using the 'Ensuring Quality Information for Patients' (EQIP) Tool (score 0-36), Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark (score 0-4) and the DISCERN Tool (score 16-80) to analyse websites containing information targeted at the general public. DATA SOURCES:Twelve popular search terms, including 'Coronavirus', 'COVID-19 19', 'Wuhan virus', 'How to treat coronavirus' and 'COVID-19 19 Prevention' were identified by 'Google AdWords' and 'Google Trends'. Unique links from the first 10 pages for each search term were identified and evaluated on its quality of information. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES:All websites written in the English language, and provides information on prevention or treatment of COVID-19 intended for the general public were considered eligible. Any websites intended for professionals, or specific isolated populations, such as students from one particular school, were excluded, as well as websites with only video content, marketing content, daily caseload update or news dashboard pages with no health information. RESULTS:Of the 1275 identified websites, 321 (25%) were eligible for analysis. The overall EQIP, JAMA and DISCERN scores were 17.8, 2.7 and 38.0, respectively. Websites originated from 34 countries, with the majority from the USA (55%). News Services (50%) and Government/Health Departments (27%) were the most common sources of information and their information quality varied significantly. Majority of websites discuss prevention alone despite popular search trends of COVID-19 treatment. Websites discussing both prevention and treatment (n=73, 23%) score significantly higher across all tools (p<0.001). CONCLUSION:This comprehensive assessment of online COVID-19 information using EQIP, JAMA and DISCERN Tools indicate that most websites were inadequate. This necessitates improvements in online resources to facilitate public health measures during the pandemic.

SUBMITTER: Fan KS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7485261 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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COVID-19 prevention and treatment information on the internet: a systematic analysis and quality assessment.

Fan Ka Siu KS Ghani Shahi Abdul SA Machairas Nikolaos N Lenti Lorenzo L Fan Ka Hay KH Richardson Daniel D Scott Aneya A Raptis Dimitri Aristotle DA

BMJ open 20200910 9

<h4>Objective</h4>To evaluate the quality of information regarding the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 available to the general public from all countries.<h4>Design</h4>Systematic analysis using the 'Ensuring Quality Information for Patients' (EQIP) Tool (score 0-36), <i>Journal of American Medical Association</i> (<i>JAMA</i>) benchmark (score 0-4) and the DISCERN Tool (score 16-80) to analyse websites containing information targeted at the general public.<h4>Data sources</h4>Twelve popula ...[more]

PMID: 32912996

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Project description:BACKGROUND:The internet is a large source of health information and has the capacity to influence its users. However, the information found on the internet often lacks scientific rigor, as anyone may upload content. This factor is a cause of great concern to scientific societies, governments, and users. OBJECTIVE:The objective of our study was to investigate the information about the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the internet. METHODS:On February 29, 2020, we performed a Google search with the terms "Prevention coronavirus," "Prevention COVID-19," "Prevención coronavirus," and "Prevención COVID-19". A univariate analysis was performed to study the association between the type of authorship, country of publication, and recommendations to avoid COVID-19 according to the World Health Organization (WHO). RESULTS:In total, 80 weblinks were reviewed. Most of them were produced in the United States and Spain (n=58, 73%) by digital media sources and official public health organizations (n=60, 75%). The most mentioned WHO preventive measure was "wash your hands frequently" (n=65, 81%). A less frequent recommendation was to "stay home if you feel unwell" (n=26, 33%). The analysis by type of author (official public health organizations versus digital media) revealed significant differences regarding the recommendation to wear a mask when you are healthy only if caring for a person with suspected COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] 4.39). According to the country of publication (Spain versus the United States), significant differences were detected regarding some recommendations such as "wash your hands frequently" (OR 9.82), "cover your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze" (OR 4.59), or "stay home if you feel unwell" (OR 0.31). CONCLUSIONS:It is necessary to urge and promote the use of the websites of official public health organizations when seeking information on COVID-19 preventive measures on the internet. In this way, users will be able to obtain high-quality information more frequently, and such websites may improve their accessibility and positioning, given that search engines justify the positioning of links obtained in a search based on the frequency of access to them.

Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic, caused by a novel coronavirus termed SARS-CoV-2, has spread quickly worldwide. Convalescent plasma (CP) obtained from patients following recovery from COVID-19 infection and development of antibodies against the virus is an attractive option for either prophylactic or therapeutic treatment, since antibodies may have direct or indirect antiviral activities and immunotherapy has proven effective in principle and in many clinical reports.ObjectiveWe seek to characterize the latest advances and evidence in the use of CP for COVID-19 through a systematic review and quantitative analysis, identify knowledge gaps in this setting, and offer recommendations and directives for future research.MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, and Embase were continuously searched for studies assessing the use of CP for COVID-19, including clinical studies, commentaries, reviews, guidelines or protocols, and in vitro testing of CP antibodies. The screening process and data extraction were performed according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Quality appraisal of all clinical studies was conducted using a universal tool independent of study designs. A meta-analysis of case-control and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted using a random-effects model.ResultsSubstantial literature has been published covering various aspects of CP therapy for COVID-19. Of the references included in this review, a total of 243 eligible studies including 64 clinical studies, 79 commentary articles, 46 reviews, 19 guidance and protocols, and 35 in vitro testing of CP antibodies matched the criteria. Positive results have been mostly observed so far when using CP for the treatment of COVID-19. There were remarkable heterogeneities in the CP therapy with respect to patient demographics, donor antibody titers, and time and dose of CP administration. The studies assessing the safety of CP treatment reported low incidence of adverse events. Most clinical studies, in particular case reports and case series, had poor quality. Only 1 RCT was of high quality. Randomized and nonrandomized data were found in 2 and 11 studies, respectively, and were included for meta-analysis, suggesting that CP could reduce mortality and increase viral clearance. Despite promising pilot studies, the benefits of CP treatment can only be clearly established through carefully designed RCTs.ConclusionsThere is developing support for CP therapy, particularly for patients who are critically ill or mechanically ventilated and resistant to antivirals and supportive care. These studies provide important lessons that should inform the planning of well-designed RCTs to generate more robust knowledge for the efficacy of CP in patients with COVID-19. Future research is necessary to fill the knowledge gap regarding prevention and treatment for patients with COVID-19 with CP while other therapeutics are being developed.

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COVID-19 prevention and treatment information on the internet: a systematic analysis and quality assessment.

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COVID-19 prevention and treatment information on the internet: a systematic analysis and quality assessment.

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