ReviewCurrent opinion in behavioral sciences2022
New challenges in facing cyberchondria during the coronavirus disease pandemic.
Review in Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Alexithymia and Cyberchondria: A Scoping Review with Implications for Healthcare Contexts.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The influencing factors and generation path of digital health literacy among adolescents: evidence from 18 provinces in China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Impact of Cyberchondria on Health and Quality of Life: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Cyberchondria, somatic symptoms, and internet-based self-diagnosis among the Saudi population.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Mindfulness Intervention for Health Information Avoidance in Older Adults: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between E-Health Literacy, Health Anxiety, Cyberchondria, and Death Anxiety in University Students That Study in Health Related Department.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Article
- Cyberchondria and smartphone addiction: A correlation survey among undergraduate medical students in Egypt.The Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association · 2024Article
- Cyberchondria: a Growing Concern During the COVID-19 Pandemic and a Possible Addictive Disorder?Current addiction reports · 2023Review
- The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Article
- Barriers to and facilitators of online health information-seeking behaviours among cancer patients: A systematic review.Digital healthReview
- How cyberchondria and decision self-efficacy shapes the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine: A gender-based comparison.Digital healthArticle
- Cyberchondria and its Association with Smartphone Addiction and Electronic Health Literacy among a Saudi Population.Saudi journal of medicine & medical sciencesArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cyberchondria (CYB) is characterized by excessive online searching for medical information and is associated with increasing levels of distress, anxiety, and interference with daily activities. As the use of digital devices and the Internet as a source of everyday information has increased, particularly during the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, so has CYB, becoming an object of interest to clinicians and researchers. The present review will provide an overview of the latest updates in CYB research. Emerging evidence draws attention to various vulnerability factors for developing CYB, including personal characteristics such as female gender, younger age, or a history of mental disorder, as well as engagement in particular forms of online behavior, such as increased use of social media, increased acceptance of online information, and information overload. Additionally, recent studies suggest that CYB may itself act as a mediating factor for increased COVID-19-related psychological burden. However, the data are still very sparse. Knowledge gaps include a universally accepted definition of CYB, severity thresholds to help differentiate nonpathological online health searches from CYB, as well as robustly evidence-based interventions.
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.