The Global Impact of COVID-19 on Threat Appraisals

Abstract

We planned an infodemiological analysis to estimate the global impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on threat appraisals. We accessed Google Trends using the search terms “Anxiety”, “Distress”, “Fear”, “Rumination”, “Stress” and “Worry” within the “topic” domain, setting the geographical location to “worldwide”, between July 2017 and July 2022. The weekly Google Trends score for the six search terms, thus, mirroring Web popularity and probable prevalence, was compared between the two search periods, “pre-COVID” (between July 2017 and February 2020) and COVID (between March 2020 and July 2022), thus, reflecting the volume of searches before and during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The median weekly Google Trends score of all these search terms significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., anxiety by 22%, distress by 13%, fear by 9%, rumination by 18%, stress by 13% and worry by 20%. With variable strength, the weekly Google Trends scores of each search term were found to be significantly associated (all p < 0.001). We can, hence, conclude that the enhanced burden of threat appraisals observed after SARS-CoV-2 spread leads the way to establish preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic measures in order to limit the unfavorable mental health consequences caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Potential impact of COVID-19 on drugs of abuse consumption

“…Several lines of evidence now attest that COVID-19 is generating a dramatic psychological burden, increasing the risk of developing important threat appraisals, 3 and thus potentially paving the way to enhanced use of drugs of abuse. Unlike this preamble, however, the results of our infodemiological analysis seemingly attest that the use of the three mostly widespread addictive drugs may have instead significantly declined both worldwide and in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Serum Vitamin D Concentration Is Lower in Patients with Tinnitus: A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

“…According to recent data, the different forms of tinnitus have a dramatically high burden in the general population, with annual incidence in adults ranging between 1–14% (2% with severe forms) and prevalence of 10% in young adults, increasing to 14% in middle-aged adults, and peaking at 24% in older adults (around 2.3% with severe phenotype), respectively [ 3 ]. The burden of this condition has also consistently increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic [ 4 ], due to direct viral injury of sensorineural hearing apparatus [ 5 ], compounded by a considerable onset of COVID-19-realted psychosocial conditions in the general population (e.g., stress, anxiety and depression) that may have worsened a pre-existing tinnitus [ 6 ]. This epidemiologic data portrays the picture of a serious public health issue, since the consequences on the daily quality of life of the people affected by permanent (e.g., long-lasting or even chronic) tinnitus may be devastating, encompassing hyperacusis, concentration and communication derangements, annoyance, irritability, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances and insomnia [ 7 ], up to development of suicidal thoughts needing urgent psychiatric interventions [ 8 ].…”

Serum vitamin D concentration is lower in patients with tinnitus: a meta-analysis of observational studies

“…According to recent data, the different forms of tinnitus have a dramatically high burden in the general population, with annual incidence in adults ranging between 1-14% (2% with severe forms) and prevalence of 10% in young adults, increasing to 14% in middle-aged adults, and peaking at 24% in older adults (around 2.3% with severe phenotype), respectively [3]. The burden of this condition has also consistently increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic [4], due to direct viral injury of sensorineural hearing apparatus [5], compounded by a considerable onset of COVID-19-realted psychosocial conditions in the general population (e.g., stress, anxiety and depression) that may have worsened a preexisting tinnitus [6]. This epidemiologic data portrays the picture of a serious public health issue, since the consequences on the daily quality of life of the people affected by permanent (e.g., long-lasting or even chronic) tinnitus may be devastating, encompassing hyperacusis, concentration and communication derangements, annoyance, irritability, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, insomnia [7], up to development of suicidal thoughts needing urgent psychiatric intervention [8].…”