Infodemia da COVID-19 e as repercussões na saúde mental de idosos brasileiros: um estudo multicêntrico

Abstract

Introduction: the excess of information related to covid-19 has caused a secondary problem to the pandemic, the infodemic, which refers to the increase in the volume of information associated with a specific subject, which can multiply quickly in a short time. Among age groups, the infodemic may have a greater impact on the lives of the elderly due to weaknesses in health literacy and digital literacy. Objective: to analyze the relationship between the infodemic about covid-19 and the repercussions on the mental health of elderly people, describe the profile of elderly participants and analyze exposure to information about covid-19 and its association with screening for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), perceived stress and major depression. Method: cross-sectional, exploratory study, carried out with 3,307 Brazilian elderly people. Data were collected by web-based survey, via social networks and e-mail, between July 2020 and March 2021. Descriptive analysis, bivariate analysis to estimate associations of interest and logistic regression analysis were carried out to screen for GAD and depression, and linear regression for screening gross perceived stress and adjusted for predictor, sociodemographic and infodemic variables. Result: when analyzing the association of screening for perceived stress with the infodemic variables, through the application of the ANOVA test, a difference was found between the means of the perceived stress score according to the frequency of exposure to social networks (p = 0 .04) and the number of hours of exposure to information on social networks (p= 0.02). The Bonferroni post hoc test revealed that the difference found in the ANOVA in relation to the mean stress score refers to the elderly who were exposed to social networks for one hour (p=0.04) and to the elderly who had no exposure to social networks (p=0.04). A significant association was found between the GAD screening outcome and the variables frequency of exposure to social networks (p = 0.00) and hours of exposure to news and information about COVID-19 on social networks (p = 0.01). In crude logistic regression, “some” frequency on social media (p=0.00) and two to five hours of exposure to social media (p=0.03) were associated with screening for GAD. In crude linear regression, “some” frequency on social media (p=0.02) and one hour of exposure to social media (p=0.00) were associated with an increase in the screening score for perceived stress. A significant association was found between the depression screening outcome and the variables frequency of exposure to television (p = 0.01), hours of exposure to news and information about covid-19 on social networks (p = 0.00) and on television (p=0.02). In the crude logistic regression, screening for depression was associated with being frequently exposed to news and information about Covid-19 on the radio (p=0.02) and television (p=0.00), being exposed for two hours (p=0 .00) or for three hours or more (p= 0.04) watching television, as well as being exposed for two to five hours (p = 0.00) or for six hours or more (p=0.02) on networks social. Considerations: the study presents contributions to the scientific community, as it is part of a gap and represents a first in the investigation into the impacts of the infodemic on GAD screening, perceived stress and major depression in the Brazilian elderly population. It is understood that the infodemic affects mental health and interferes with the quality of life of the elderly. It is noteworthy that the management of excess information must be an issue in public health debate to combat the infodemic, which demands an integrated and coordinated response from government and research institutions, involving the quality of production and circulation of validated information scientifically.