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Article: Exposure to health misinformation about COVID-19 and increased tobacco and alcohol use: a population-based survey in Hong Kong

TitleExposure to health misinformation about COVID-19 and increased tobacco and alcohol use: a population-based survey in Hong Kong
Authors
Keywordsadvertising and promotion
media
prevention
surveillance and monitoring
Issue Date2021
PublisherBMJ Publishing Group. The Journal's web site is located at http://tc.bmjjournals.com/
Citation
Tobacco Control, 2021, v. 30 n. 6, p. 696-699 How to Cite?
AbstractIntroduction: Health information about COVID-19 has been circulating in social networking sites, including unproven claims that smoking and alcohol drinking could protect against COVID-19. We examined if exposure to such claims was associated with changes in tobacco and alcohol consumption. Methods: We conducted a population-based, landline and mobile phone survey of 1501 randomly sampled adults aged 18 years or older (47.5% male) in Hong Kong in April 2020. Respondents reported if they had ever seen claims that ‘smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19’ from popular social networking platforms. Current tobacco and alcohol users reported if they had increased or reduced their consumption since the outbreak. Prevalence data were weighted by sex, age and education of the general adult population. Results: 19.0% (95% CI 16.8% to 21.4%) of all respondents reported having seen claims that ‘smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19’ from social networking sites. Multinomial logistic regression showed that exposure to the claims was significantly associated with increased tobacco use (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.08 to 5.20) in current tobacco users (N=280) and increased alcohol use (OR 4.16, 95% CI 2.00 to 8.67) in current drinkers (N=722), adjusting for sex, age, education level, alcohol/tobacco use status, home isolation, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and survey method. Conclusion: Our results first showed that exposure to health misinformation that smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19 was associated with self-reported increases in tobacco and alcohol consumption in Chinese during the pandemic. This article is made freely available for use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/286607
ISSN
2021 Impact Factor: 6.953
2020 SCImago Journal Rankings: 2.715
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorLuk, TT-
dc.contributor.authorZHAO, S-
dc.contributor.authorWeng, X-
dc.contributor.authorWong, JYH-
dc.contributor.authorWu, Y-
dc.contributor.authorHo, SY-
dc.contributor.authorLam, TH-
dc.contributor.authorWang, MP-
dc.date.accessioned2020-09-04T13:27:57Z-
dc.date.available2020-09-04T13:27:57Z-
dc.date.issued2021-
dc.identifier.citationTobacco Control, 2021, v. 30 n. 6, p. 696-699-
dc.identifier.issn0964-4563-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/286607-
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: Health information about COVID-19 has been circulating in social networking sites, including unproven claims that smoking and alcohol drinking could protect against COVID-19. We examined if exposure to such claims was associated with changes in tobacco and alcohol consumption. Methods: We conducted a population-based, landline and mobile phone survey of 1501 randomly sampled adults aged 18 years or older (47.5% male) in Hong Kong in April 2020. Respondents reported if they had ever seen claims that ‘smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19’ from popular social networking platforms. Current tobacco and alcohol users reported if they had increased or reduced their consumption since the outbreak. Prevalence data were weighted by sex, age and education of the general adult population. Results: 19.0% (95% CI 16.8% to 21.4%) of all respondents reported having seen claims that ‘smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19’ from social networking sites. Multinomial logistic regression showed that exposure to the claims was significantly associated with increased tobacco use (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.08 to 5.20) in current tobacco users (N=280) and increased alcohol use (OR 4.16, 95% CI 2.00 to 8.67) in current drinkers (N=722), adjusting for sex, age, education level, alcohol/tobacco use status, home isolation, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and survey method. Conclusion: Our results first showed that exposure to health misinformation that smoking/alcohol drinking can protect against COVID-19 was associated with self-reported increases in tobacco and alcohol consumption in Chinese during the pandemic. This article is made freely available for use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherBMJ Publishing Group. The Journal's web site is located at http://tc.bmjjournals.com/-
dc.relation.ispartofTobacco Control-
dc.rightsTobacco Control. Copyright © BMJ Publishing Group.-
dc.rightsThis article has been accepted for publication in Tobacco Control, 2020, following peer review, and the Version of Record can be accessed online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055960-
dc.subjectadvertising and promotion-
dc.subjectmedia-
dc.subjectprevention-
dc.subjectsurveillance and monitoring-
dc.titleExposure to health misinformation about COVID-19 and increased tobacco and alcohol use: a population-based survey in Hong Kong-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.emailLuk, TT: lukkevin@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailWeng, X: wengxue@connect.hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailWong, JYH: janetyh@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailWu, Y: ydswu@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailHo, SY: syho@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailLam, TH: hrmrlth@hkucc.hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailWang, MP: mpwang@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.authorityLuk, TT=rp02827-
dc.identifier.authorityWong, JYH=rp01561-
dc.identifier.authorityHo, SY=rp00427-
dc.identifier.authorityLam, TH=rp00326-
dc.identifier.authorityWang, MP=rp01863-
dc.description.naturepostprint-
dc.identifier.doi10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055960-
dc.identifier.pmid32855353-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85118260096-
dc.identifier.hkuros313911-
dc.identifier.volume30-
dc.identifier.issue6-
dc.identifier.spage696-
dc.identifier.epage699-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000711061400016-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdom-
dc.identifier.issnl0964-4563-

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