Observational studyJournal of medical Internet research2020
Impact of Trump's Promotion of Unproven COVID-19 Treatments and Subsequent Internet Trends: Observational Study.
Observational study in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials of hydroxychloroquine for the prevention of COVID-19.European journal of epidemiology · 2022Pooled it
- On the importance of communication, advocacy, and information accuracy in destigmatizing mpox disease.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Effect of Covid-19 pandemic on azithromycin, chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin outpatient consumption in Brazil: a joinpoint regression analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Characterizing Public Sentiments and Drug Interactions in the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Social Media: Natural Language Processing and Network Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Unraveling the Use of Disinformation Hashtags by Social Bots During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social Networks Analysis.JMIR infodemiology · 2025Article
- Age-stratified pharmacovigilance of azithromycin: a multimethod signal detection analysis in the FAERS database.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Article
- Efficacy of Ivermectin, Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine, and Azithromycin in Managing COVID-19: A Systematic Review of Phase III Clinical Trials.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- COVID-19 drug discovery and treatment options.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2024Review
- Inefficacious drugs against covid-19: analysis of sales, tweets, and search engines.Revista de saude publica · 2024Article
- Vaccine Hesitancy and Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Misinformation in Japanese Youth: The Contribution of Personality Traits and National Identity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- 'A Home to the Lie': The Contemporary (Per)version of Truth.American journal of psychoanalysis · 2023Article
- Article
- Understanding underlying moral values and language use of COVID-19 vaccine attitudes on twitter.PNAS nexus · 2023Article
- Meet the Medicines-A Crowdsourced Approach to Collecting and Communicating Information about Essential Medicines Online.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Exploring COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes among Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Communities: Community Partners' and Residents' Perspectives.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Fomepizole should not be used more liberally in paracetamol overdose.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2023Article
- Public interest in different types of masks and its relationship with pandemic and policy measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: a study using Google Trends data.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Outpatient purchasing patterns of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin in the USA and Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic: an interrupted time series analysis from 2016 to 2021.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2022Article
- Using Twitter data to understand public perceptions of approved versus off-label use for COVID-19-related medications.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2022Article
- Multiple deadlocks in the development of nonprofit drugs.Drug discovery today · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIndividuals with large followings can influence public opinions and behaviors, especially during a pandemic. In the early days of the pandemic, US president Donald J Trump has endorsed the use of unproven therapies. Subsequently, a death attributed to the wrongful ingestion of a chloroquine-containing compound occurred.
objectiveWe investigated Donald J Trump's speeches and Twitter posts, as well as Google searches and Amazon purchases, and television airtime for mentions of hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, azithromycin, and remdesivir.
methodsTwitter sourcing was catalogued with Factba.se, and analytics data, both past and present, were analyzed with Tweet Binder to assess average analytics data on key metrics. Donald J Trump's time spent discussing unverified treatments on the United States' 5 largest TV stations was catalogued with the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone, and his speech transcripts were obtained from White House briefings. Google searches and shopping trends were analyzed with Google Trends. Amazon purchases were assessed using Helium 10 software.
resultsFrom March 1 to April 30, 2020, Donald J Trump made 11 tweets about unproven therapies and mentioned these therapies 65 times in White House briefings, especially touting hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. These tweets had an impression reach of 300% above Donald J Trump's average. Following these tweets, at least 2% of airtime on conservative networks for treatment modalities like azithromycin and continuous mentions of such treatments were observed on stations like Fox News. Google searches and purchases increased following his first press conference on March 19, 2020, and increased again following his tweets on March 21, 2020. The same is true for medications on Amazon, with purchases for medicine substitutes, such as hydroxychloroquine, increasing by 200%.
conclusionsIndividuals in positions of power can sway public purchasing, resulting in undesired effects when the individuals' claims are unverified. Public health officials must work to dissuade the use of unproven treatments for COVID-19.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.