ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2021
Using Fear and Anxiety Related to COVID-19 to Predict Cyberchondria: Cross-sectional Survey Study.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- The mediating and moderating role of COVID-19 coping attitudes in the relationship between coronavirus anxiety and cyberchondria.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Healthcare access difficulty due to fear of COVID-19 infection among women of reproductive age: multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis.African health sciences · 2026Article
- Trends in the Implementation of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale: Bibliometric Analysis.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Associated Factors of Cyberchondria: A Scoping Review.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2026Article
- Impact of Cyberchondria on Health and Quality of Life: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Viral Anxiety, Reassurance-Seeking Behavior, and Depression Mediate the Influence of Dysfunctional Self-Focus on Preoccupation With COVID-19 Among Infected Cases.Psychiatry investigation · 2024Article
- Dispositional factors in the explanation of symptoms of depression, anxiety, health anxiety and COVID-19 Phobia.PloS one · 2024Article
- Unraveling the relationships among pandemic fear, cyberchondria, and alexithymia after China's exit from the zero-COVID policy: insights from a multi-center network analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Predictors of Cyberchondria During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study Using Supervised Machine Learning.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Fear of COVID-19 and the career maturity of Chinese international high school students: The mediating effect of the intolerance of uncertainty.Journal of health psychology · 2023Article
- Cyberchondria and COVID-19 anxiety and internet addiction among nursing students.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Cyberchondria: a Growing Concern During the COVID-19 Pandemic and a Possible Addictive Disorder?Current addiction reports · 2023Review
- The role of healthy emotionality in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and mental health problems: a cross-sectional study.Cognitive processing · 2022Article
- The Relationship between the Severity of the COVID-19 Disease, Temperament and Psychological Factors.Iranian journal of psychiatry · 2022Article
- Relationships between fear of COVID-19, cyberchondria, intolerance of uncertainty, and obsessional probabilistic inferences: A structural equation model.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2022Article
- The Level of COVID-19 Anxiety among Oncology Patients in Poland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Interoceptive anxiety-related processes: Importance for understanding COVID-19 and future pandemic mental health and addictive behaviors and their comorbidity.Behaviour research and therapy · 2022Review
- Application of unified protocol as a transdiagnostic treatment for emotional disorders during COVID-19: An internet-delivered randomized controlled trial.World journal of clinical cases · 2022Article
- Cyberchondria, Covid-19 phobia, and well-being: a relational study on teachers.La Medicina del lavoro · 2022Article
- Examining the relationship between fear of COVID-19, intolerance for uncertainty, and cyberloafing: A mediational model.Journal of business research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStudies have highlighted that fear and anxiety generated by COVID-19 are important psychological factors that affect all populations. There currently remains a lack of research on specific amplification factors regarding fear and anxiety in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite established associations between anxiety sensitivity, intolerance of uncertainty, and cyberchondria, empirical data investigating the associations between these three variables, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, are currently lacking. Urgent research is needed to better understand the role of repeated media consumption concerning COVID-19 in amplifying fear and anxiety related to COVID-19.
objectiveThis study investigated the associations between fear of COVID-19, COVID-19 anxiety, and cyberchondria.
methodsConvenience sampling was used to recruit respondents to participate in an online survey. The survey, which was distributed via social media and academic forums, comprised the Cyberchondria Severity Scale, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Multiple mediation analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling.
resultsA total of 694 respondents (males: n=343, females: n=351) completed the online survey. The results showed that fear and anxiety generated by COVID-19 predicted cyberchondria (fear: β=.39, SE 0.04, P<.001, t=11.16, 95% CI 0.31-0.45; anxiety: β=.25, SE 0.03, P<.001, t=7.67, 95% CI 0.19-0.32). In addition, intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety sensitivity mediated the relationship between fear and anxiety generated by COVID-19 with cyberchondria. In a reciprocal model, the standardized total effects of cyberchondria on fear of COVID-19 (β=.45, SE 0.04, P<.001, t=15.31, 95% CI 0.39-0.51) and COVID-19 anxiety (β=.36, SE 0.03, P<.001, t=11.29, 95% CI 0.30-0.41) were statistically significant, with moderate effect sizes. Compared to males, females obtained significantly higher scores for cyberchondria (t
conclusionsThe findings provide a better understanding of the role of COVID-19 in amplifying cyberchondria. Based on these results, cyberchondria must be viewed as a significant public health issue. Importantly, increasing awareness about cyberchondria and online behavior at both the individual and collective levels must be prioritized to enhance preparedness and to reduce the adverse effects of current and future medical crises.
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