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Associations of lockdown stringency and duration with Google searches for mental health terms during the COVID-19 pandemic: A nine-country study.
de la Rosa, Pedro A; Cowden, Richard G; de Filippis, Renato; Jerotic, Stefan; Nahidi, Mahsa; Ori, Dorottya; Orsolini, Laura; Nagendrappa, Sachin; Pinto da Costa, Mariana; Ransing, Ramdas; Saeed, Fahimeh; Shoib, Sheikh; Turan, Serkan; Ullah, Irfan; Vadivel, Ramyadarshni; Ramalho, Rodrigo.
  • de la Rosa PA; Institute for Culture and Society, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: pdelarosa@alumni.unav.es.
  • Cowden RG; Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: rcowden@fas.harvard.edu.
  • de Filippis R; Psychiatry Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88110, Italy. Electronic address: defilippisrenato@gmail.com.
  • Jerotic S; Clinic for Psychiatry, University Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: stefan.jerotic@gmail.com.
  • Nahidi M; Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Electronic address: mahsa.nahidi@gmail.com.
  • Ori D; Department of Mental Health, Heim Pal National Pediatric Institute, Budapest, Hungary; Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: oridorottya@gmail.com.
  • Orsolini L; Unit of Clinical Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences/DIMSC, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy. Electronic address: laura.orsolini01@gmail.com.
  • Nagendrappa S; St Johns Medical College Hospital, Bengaluru, 34, India. Electronic address: nsachin40@gmail.com.
  • Pinto da Costa M; Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: mariana.pintodacosta@gmail.com.
  • Ransing R; Department of Psychiatry, BKL Walawalkar Rural Medical College, Ratnagiri, 415606, Maharashtra, India. Electronic address: ramdas_ransing123@yahoo.co.in.
  • Saeed F; Department of Psychiatry, Psychosis Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: Fa.saeed@uswr.ac.ir.
  • Shoib S; Department of Psychiatry, Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. Electronic address: sheikshoib22@gmail.com.
  • Turan S; Bursa Uludag University, Faculty of Medicine Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Bursa, Turkey. Electronic address: drserkanturan@icloud.com.
  • Ullah I; Kabir Medical College, Gandhara University, Peshawar, Pakistan. Electronic address: irfanullahecp2@gmail.com.
  • Vadivel R; Mental Health and Addictions Services, Waikato District Health Board, Hamilton, New Zealand. Electronic address: dr.ramya.v@gmail.com.
  • Ramalho R; Department of Social and Community Health, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: r.ramalho@auckland.ac.nz.
J Psychiatr Res ; 150: 237-245, 2022 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1768361
ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES:

We examined the associations of lockdown stringency and duration with Google searches for four mental health concepts (i.e., "Anxiety," "Depression," "Suicide," "Mental Health") in nine countries (i.e., Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Paraguay, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS:

We retrieved national-level data for each country from Google Trends and the Global Panel Database of Pandemic Policies. In our primary analysis, we used data from all countries to estimate a set of multilevel regression models examining associations of overall lockdown stringency and lockdown duration with relative search volumes for each mental health term. We repeated the models after replacing overall lockdown stringency with each of the lockdown stringency components.

RESULTS:

A negative association was found between overall lockdown stringency and "Depression." Lockdown duration and the most stringent stay-at-home requirements were negatively associated with "Anxiety." Policies that recommended or required the cancelation of public events evidenced negative associations with "Depression," whereas associations between policies that required some or all levels of schooling to close and "Depression" were positive. Policies that recommended or required workplaces to close and those that enforced quarantines on non-citizens arriving from high-risk regions or closed borders entirely were negatively associated with "Suicide."

CONCLUSIONS:

Lockdown duration and some lockdown policies during the COVID-19 pandemic were generally associated with significantly lower, rather than higher, Google searches for selected mental health terms. These findings could be used alongside other evidence to develop future lockdown strategies that are sensitive to mental health issues during public health crises.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 Type of study: Prognostic study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: J Psychiatr Res Year: 2022 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 Type of study: Prognostic study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: J Psychiatr Res Year: 2022 Document Type: Article