A Sociodemographic Profile of Mask Use During the COVID-19 Outbreak Among Young and Elderly Individuals in Brazil: Online Survey Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Knowledge of sociodemographic variables and health behaviors may impact public and authority’s health decisions. The use of a face mask helps to decrease the spread of the COVID-19 OBJECTIVE Our aim was to present the profile of sociodemographic variables and face mask use and characteristics of COVID-19 among young and older adults METHODS An online Google survey was applied. Our sample (n=2,673) consisted of a Brazilian sample (≥ 18 years) from different regions RESULTS Most respondents, from groups ≤59 and ≥ 60 years were, respectively women, from Southeast region, and postgraduate. For groups ≤59 and ≥ 60 years, respectively, 83.4% and 92.5% no experienced symptoms and 97.3% and 98.3% no have a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19; and 61.1% and 67.8% was not health professional. Majority of the participants, for both groups, reported the use of face masks that was sig-nificantly influenced by sex, level of education, and whether the participant was a health professional or not CONCLUSIONS Young and older adults reported wearing masks during the pandemic. However, it is difficult to measure how much this could have an impact on the degree of infection and spread by the virus. CLINICALTRIAL -