Associations of Delay in Doctor Consultation With COVID-19 Related Fear, Attention to Information, and Fact-Checking
Copyright © 2021 Lai, Sit, Wu, Wang, Wong, Ho and Lam..
Background: Delaying doctor consultation is harmful. Fear of COVID-19 leads to delays in seeking medical care at a time when pandemic information overflows. However, little is known about the role of COVID-19 related fear, attention to information, and fact-checking in such delay. Objective: Under the Hong Kong Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project, we examined the associations of delay in doctor consultation amidst the pandemic with sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19 related fear, attention to information, and fact-checking. Methods: We conducted a population-based online cross-sectional survey in May 2020 on Hong Kong Chinese adults. Respondents reported whether the pandemic caused any delay in doctor consultation (yes/no), level of COVID-19 related fear, attention to information and fact-checking (all on a scale of 0 to 10 and recoded into tertiles of low, moderate, high). Regression analyses were used to examine the associations of delay and fear with sociodemographic characteristics, attention and fact-checking, adjusting for covariates. Data were weighted by sex, age and education level of the population. Results: Of 4,551 respondents (46.5% male, 59.7% aged over 45 years), 10.1% reported delay in doctor consultation. The mean score was 6.4 for fear, 8.0 for attention and 7.4 for fact-checking. Delay was more common in males and increased with age and fear. High vs. low level of fear was associated with delay [adjusted odd ratios (AOR) 2.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.08, 3.47]. Moderate level of fact-checking was negatively associated with delay (AOR 1.28, 95% CI 0.98, 1.67). Females reported greater fear and fear decreased with age. Fear increased with attention to information and decreased with fact-checking. Fear substantially mediated the association of delay with attention (96%) and fact-checking (30%). Conclusions: We have first shown that delay in doctor consultation increased with fear of COVID-19 and decreased with fact-checking amidst the pandemic. Fear also increased with attention to COVID-19 related information and decreased with fact-checking. Understanding these associations can help policymakers develop targeted communication and support to the public to reduce delayed doctor consultations and the associated COVID-19-related or unrelated morbidity and mortality in the community.
| Errataetall: |
ErratumIn: Front Public Health. 2022 Feb 10;10:847603. - PMID 35223750 |
|---|---|
| Medienart: |
E-Artikel |
| Erscheinungsjahr: |
2021 |
|---|---|
| Erschienen: |
2021 |
| Enthalten in: |
Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:9 |
|---|---|
| Enthalten in: |
Frontiers in public health - 9(2021) vom: 28., Seite 797814 |
| Sprache: |
Englisch |
|---|
| Beteiligte Personen: |
Lai, Agnes Yuen-Kwan [VerfasserIn] |
|---|
| Links: |
|---|
| Themen: |
COVID-19 |
|---|
| Anmerkungen: |
Date Completed 05.01.2022 Date Revised 28.02.2022 published: Electronic-eCollection ErratumIn: Front Public Health. 2022 Feb 10;10:847603. - PMID 35223750 Citation Status MEDLINE |
|---|
| doi: |
10.3389/fpubh.2021.797814 |
|---|
| funding: |
|
|---|---|
| Förderinstitution / Projekttitel: |
|
| PPN (Katalog-ID): |
NLM335025285 |
|---|
| LEADER | 01000naa a22002652 4500 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | NLM335025285 | ||
| 003 | DE-627 | ||
| 005 | 20231225224933.0 | ||
| 007 | cr uuu---uuuuu | ||
| 008 | 231225s2021 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c | ||
| 024 | 7 | |a 10.3389/fpubh.2021.797814 |2 doi | |
| 028 | 5 | 2 | |a pubmed24n1116.xml |
| 035 | |a (DE-627)NLM335025285 | ||
| 035 | |a (NLM)34966717 | ||
| 040 | |a DE-627 |b ger |c DE-627 |e rakwb | ||
| 041 | |a eng | ||
| 100 | 1 | |a Lai, Agnes Yuen-Kwan |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 245 | 1 | 0 | |a Associations of Delay in Doctor Consultation With COVID-19 Related Fear, Attention to Information, and Fact-Checking |
| 264 | 1 | |c 2021 | |
| 336 | |a Text |b txt |2 rdacontent | ||
| 337 | |a ƒaComputermedien |b c |2 rdamedia | ||
| 338 | |a ƒa Online-Ressource |b cr |2 rdacarrier | ||
| 500 | |a Date Completed 05.01.2022 | ||
| 500 | |a Date Revised 28.02.2022 | ||
| 500 | |a published: Electronic-eCollection | ||
| 500 | |a ErratumIn: Front Public Health. 2022 Feb 10;10:847603. - PMID 35223750 | ||
| 500 | |a Citation Status MEDLINE | ||
| 520 | |a Copyright © 2021 Lai, Sit, Wu, Wang, Wong, Ho and Lam. | ||
| 520 | |a Background: Delaying doctor consultation is harmful. Fear of COVID-19 leads to delays in seeking medical care at a time when pandemic information overflows. However, little is known about the role of COVID-19 related fear, attention to information, and fact-checking in such delay. Objective: Under the Hong Kong Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project, we examined the associations of delay in doctor consultation amidst the pandemic with sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19 related fear, attention to information, and fact-checking. Methods: We conducted a population-based online cross-sectional survey in May 2020 on Hong Kong Chinese adults. Respondents reported whether the pandemic caused any delay in doctor consultation (yes/no), level of COVID-19 related fear, attention to information and fact-checking (all on a scale of 0 to 10 and recoded into tertiles of low, moderate, high). Regression analyses were used to examine the associations of delay and fear with sociodemographic characteristics, attention and fact-checking, adjusting for covariates. Data were weighted by sex, age and education level of the population. Results: Of 4,551 respondents (46.5% male, 59.7% aged over 45 years), 10.1% reported delay in doctor consultation. The mean score was 6.4 for fear, 8.0 for attention and 7.4 for fact-checking. Delay was more common in males and increased with age and fear. High vs. low level of fear was associated with delay [adjusted odd ratios (AOR) 2.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.08, 3.47]. Moderate level of fact-checking was negatively associated with delay (AOR 1.28, 95% CI 0.98, 1.67). Females reported greater fear and fear decreased with age. Fear increased with attention to information and decreased with fact-checking. Fear substantially mediated the association of delay with attention (96%) and fact-checking (30%). Conclusions: We have first shown that delay in doctor consultation increased with fear of COVID-19 and decreased with fact-checking amidst the pandemic. Fear also increased with attention to COVID-19 related information and decreased with fact-checking. Understanding these associations can help policymakers develop targeted communication and support to the public to reduce delayed doctor consultations and the associated COVID-19-related or unrelated morbidity and mortality in the community | ||
| 650 | 4 | |a Journal Article | |
| 650 | 4 | |a Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't | |
| 650 | 4 | |a COVID-19 | |
| 650 | 4 | |a coronavirus | |
| 650 | 4 | |a delay in doctor consultation | |
| 650 | 4 | |a infodemic | |
| 650 | 4 | |a infodemiology | |
| 650 | 4 | |a information and communication technologies | |
| 650 | 4 | |a patient delay | |
| 650 | 4 | |a public health | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Sit, Shirley Man-Man |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Wu, Socrates Yong-Da |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Wang, Man-Ping |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Wong, Bonny Yee-Man |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Ho, Sai-Yin |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Lam, Tai-Hing |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 773 | 0 | 8 | |i Enthalten in |t Frontiers in public health |d 2013 |g 9(2021) vom: 28., Seite 797814 |w (DE-627)NLM23377548X |x 2296-2565 |7 nnns |
| 773 | 1 | 8 | |g volume:9 |g year:2021 |g day:28 |g pages:797814 |
| 856 | 4 | 0 | |u http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.797814 |3 Volltext |
| 912 | |a GBV_USEFLAG_A | ||
| 912 | |a GBV_NLM | ||
| 951 | |a AR | ||
| 952 | |d 9 |j 2021 |b 28 |h 797814 | ||