Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36401249›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2022

Household disinfection practices by women living in Egypt during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown and the association of information sources and suspected bleach toxicity.

Maha Farid, Rania Talaat, Valerie Pacino, Hyo Jung Tak, Wael ElRayes

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Maha FaridDepartment of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. maha.farid@med.helwan.edu.eg.
Rania TalaatDepartment of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
Valerie PacinoDepartment of Health Services Research and Administration, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
Hyo Jung TakDepartment of Health Services Research and Administration, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
Wael ElRayesDepartment of Health Services Research and Administration, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe spread of contradictory health information was a hallmark of the early COVID-19 pandemic. Because of a limited understanding of the disease, its mode of transmission, and its pathogenicity, the public turned to easily accessible and familiar sources of information. Some of these sources included wrong or incomplete information that could increase health risks and incidents of toxicity due to improper information about the usage of disinfectants. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between sources of information about the COVID-19 pandemic, the related household cleaning and disinfection practices among adult women living in Egypt, and the associated adverse effects of bleach toxicity during a national lockdown.

methodsThrough a self-administered online survey, 452 adult women (18 years and older) living in Egypt were recruited from 13 cities between 4 June 2022 and 4 July 2022 to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire included (41) questions in Arabic and collected data about respondents' household cleaning and disinfection practices to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and protect their families during the lockdown that started in Egypt in March 2020.

resultsThe study found that 88.1% (n = 398) of participants reported increased use of disinfectants during the lockdown. Women who chose social media as their primary source of information to learn about disinfection practices reported an increased frequency of respiratory symptoms associated with bleach toxicity (correlation coefficient = 0.10, p-value = 0.03), followed by women who depended on relatives and friends as the primary source of information (correlation coefficient = 0.10, p-value = 0.02).

conclusionThis study showed that social media is an easily accessible, efficient and fast communication tool that can act as a primary source for individuals seeking medical information compared to other media platforms (e.g., websites, T.V., satellite channels). However, better regulations and monitoring of its content may help limit the harms caused by the misinformation and disinformation spread by these popular platforms, particularly in times of uncertainty and upheaval.

Indexed as

COVID-19DisinfectantsAdultCommunicable Disease ControlDisinfectionEgyptFemaleHumansPandemicsSARS-CoV-2DisinfectantsBleachCOVID-19EgyptSocial mediaToxicity

Identifiers

PMID36401249
PMCPMC9675102

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.