SynthesisPublic health2021
What can internet users' behaviours reveal about the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic? A systematic review.
Synthesis in Public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epidemiology of psoriasis in Italy: burden, cost, comorbidities and patients' satisfaction. A systematic review.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2022Pooled it
- Altered Food Behavior and Cancer: A Systematic Review of the Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Promises and Pitfalls of Internet Search Data in Mental Health: Critical Review.JMIR mental health · 2025Review
- Harnessing Internet Search Data as a Potential Tool for Medical Diagnosis: Literature Review.JMIR mental health · 2025Review
- The internet usage increases fear of infection with Covid-19.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The impact of health information seeking and social influence on functional food purchase intention.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Assessing the impact of small firm dynamics on public mental health amid the pandemic in Latin America.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Analysis of Pharmaceutical Companies' Social Media Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on the Public.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on public social life and mental health: a statistical study of google trends data from the USA.Journal of applied statistics · 2024Article
- Sentiments about Mental Health on Twitter-Before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Social Network Characteristics and Depressive Symptoms of Italian Public Health Medical Residents: The Public Health Residents' Anonymous Survey in Italy (PHRASI).Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Changes in digital healthcare search behavior during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of six English-speaking countries.PLOS digital health · 2023Article
- Depressive Symptoms of Public Health Medical Residents during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a Nation-Wide Survey: The PHRASI Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Psychological Health and Drugs: Data-Driven Discovery of Causes, Treatments, Effects, and Abuses.Toxics · 2023Article
- Evaluating the Impact of Mask Mandates and Political Party Affiliation on Mental Health Internet Search Behavior in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Generalized Additive Mixed Model Framework.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- The Electronic Mental Wellness Tool as a Self-Administered Brief Screening Instrument for Mental Disorders in the General Spanish Population during the Post-COVID-19 Era.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Using Google Trends and Wikipedia to Investigate the Global Public's Interest in the Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis of a Celebrity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown and Its Evolution: A Case Study Based on Internet Searching Data during the Lockdown of Wuhan 2020 and Shanghai 2022.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Google Trends for health research: Its advantages, application, methodological considerations, and limitations in psychiatric and mental health infodemiology.Frontiers in big data · 2023Review
- 1.5 years pandemic - Psychological burden over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: A nine-wave longitudinal community study.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesAt the end of 2019, an acute infectious pneumonia (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began in Wuhan, China, and subsequently spread around the world starting a pandemic. Globally, to date, there have been >118 million confirmed cases, including >2 million deaths. In this context, it has been shown that the psychological impact of the pandemic is important and that it can be associated with an increase in internet searches related to fear, anxiety, depression, as well as protective behaviours, health knowledge and even maladaptive behaviours. STUDY
designThis is a systematic review.
methodsThis review aims to collect, analyse and synthesise available evidence on novel data streams for surveillance purposes and/or their potential for capturing the public reaction to epidemic outbreaks, particularly focusing on mental health effects and emotions.
resultsAt the end of the screening process, 19 articles were included in this systematic review. Our results show that the COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on internet searches for mental health of entire populations, which manifests itself in a significant increase of depressed, anxious and stressed internet users' emotions.
conclusionsNovel data streams can support public health experts and policymakers in establishing priorities and setting up long-term strategies to mitigate symptoms and tackle mental health disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.