Mapping of electronic searches for the most popular drugs in the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to map electronic searches for most popular drugs in the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. This is an exploratory, retrospective and mixed study. The data were collected in July 2020 through Google Trends®, filtered from the last 90 days of research, wich were related to drugs, ivermectin, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, dexamethasone and azithromycin. To identify the most visited newscasts, Google News® was used. The Brazilian population conducted electronic searches among the five investigated drugs, but chloroquine and ivermectin predominated. Furthermore, as the disease evolved in Brazilian states, the influence of scientific and government research in the search for these drugs was noticeable. It is noteworthy that it is essential for the management of the pandemic that communication strategies be drawn up, based on social responsibility and the perspective of popular empowerment, with a focus on the identification of false news and the conscious use of information acquired virtually. © 2021, Centro Nacional de Informacion de Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.