ArticlePloS one2018
Self-care for common colds: A European multicenter survey on the role of subjective discomfort and knowledge about the self-limited course - The COCO study.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and Safety of Ganduqing Granules in Treating the Common Cold: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Using machine learning to investigate self-medication purchasing in England via high street retailer loyalty card data.PloS one · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionCommon colds are the most frequently encountered disease worldwide and the most frequent reason for self-care. According to the cross-sectional European Common Colds study (COCO), patients use as many as 12 items on average for self-care. Little is known about the influence of discomfort and knowledge on self-care for common colds. MAIN
objectiveTo understand the influence of patients' discomfort during a cold and their knowledge about the self-limited disease course on the use of self-care measures. MATERIALS AND
methodsThis COCO analysis included 2,204 patients from 22 European primary care sites in 12 countries. Each site surveyed 120 consecutive adults with a 27-item questionnaire asking about patients' self-care, subjective discomfort during a cold (discomfort: yes/no), and knowledge about the self-limited course (yes/no). Country-specific medians of the number of self-care items served as a cut-off to define high and low self-care use. Four groups were stratified based on discomfort (yes/no) and knowledge (yes/no).
resultsParticipants' mean age was 46.5 years, 61.7% were female; 36.3% lacked knowledge; 70.6% reported discomfort. The group has discomfort/no knowledge exhibited the highest mean item use (13.3), followed by has discomfort/has knowledge (11.9), no discomfort/no knowledge (11.1), and no discomfort/has knowledge (8.8). High use was associated with discomfort (OR 1.8; CI 1.5-2.2), female gender (OR 1.7; 1.4-2.0), chronic pain/arthritis (OR 1.6; 1.2-2.1), more years of education (OR 1.3; 1.1-1.6), age <48 years (OR 1.3; 1.0-1.5), and lack of knowledge (OR 1.2; 1.0-1.4). DISCUSSION: Counseling on common colds should address patients' discomfort and soothing measures in addition to providing information on the natural disease course.
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