Abstract
Introduction:
Covid-19 pandemic has been a major global crisis and public health threat with a great impact on citizens’ psychological state, daily lifestyle habits and access in healthcare settings. Here we investigated changes in public’s mental health, addiction habits (alcohol/nicotine/NPS use) but also self-reported health risk perception.
Methods:
An international online survey was conducted using the Jisc (formerly Bristol Online Survey) tool. The questionnaire was in English, advertised on the drug forum Bluelight, social media Facebook pages and via University email between 8 August 2020 and 3 March 2021 (248 responses; 55 NPS users). This pharmacoepidemiologic study was evaluated using SPSS software (IBM SPSS Statistics version 27; MacOS Sierra 10.12.3).
Results:
The respondents were from the UK (64.5%), USA (18.5%) and Greece (17%); the average age of the respondents was 32 years old and 43% were males. The majority of the respondents reported that they were satisfied with their lives prior to Covid-19 (83%) whilst following the pandemic more than half of the respondents (56%) were neutral or dissatisfied with their lives; 38% stated that they significantly changed their lifestyle and habits due to the pandemic. The highest decline in mental health state was noticed in Greece following the pandemic changes. Similarly, in the USA and the UK there was an increase in life dissatisfaction following COVID -19 changes. Regarding tobacco use health risk perception, the majority of respondents from all the countries reported a high risk (57%) when (20%) stated no/low risk or they were not aware. In Greece though one out of two respondents reported no/low risk or they were not aware about tobacco use health risks. The most well informed about tobacco use risk were the UK residents. Regarding alcohol health risk perception over the half of the respondents (57%) stated low/no risk or were not aware and only (15%) reported high risk. In Greece and the UK, the majority of the respondents reported low/no risk or were not aware about health risks from alcohol use. Finally, regarding NPS use health risk perception the majority of all the NPS users (79%) stated no/ low risk or not aware about the NPS use health risk and only (7%) reported high risk. Needs to be noticed that from the NPS users with underlying health conditions subgroup the (69%) reported low health risk by consuming their favourite NPSs.
Conclusion:
It is clear the great impact of the Covid-19 pandemic leading to mental health decline on population. Mental health promotion strategies are required to be developed as well as strategies focusing on health risks that can be caused by alcohol and tobacco abuse. The low percentages of health risk perception regarding addictive behaviours is concerning and shows the need for enhanced prevention interventions in schools, colleges but also in general public.
Covid-19 pandemic has been a major global crisis and public health threat with a great impact on citizens’ psychological state, daily lifestyle habits and access in healthcare settings. Here we investigated changes in public’s mental health, addiction habits (alcohol/nicotine/NPS use) but also self-reported health risk perception.
Methods:
An international online survey was conducted using the Jisc (formerly Bristol Online Survey) tool. The questionnaire was in English, advertised on the drug forum Bluelight, social media Facebook pages and via University email between 8 August 2020 and 3 March 2021 (248 responses; 55 NPS users). This pharmacoepidemiologic study was evaluated using SPSS software (IBM SPSS Statistics version 27; MacOS Sierra 10.12.3).
Results:
The respondents were from the UK (64.5%), USA (18.5%) and Greece (17%); the average age of the respondents was 32 years old and 43% were males. The majority of the respondents reported that they were satisfied with their lives prior to Covid-19 (83%) whilst following the pandemic more than half of the respondents (56%) were neutral or dissatisfied with their lives; 38% stated that they significantly changed their lifestyle and habits due to the pandemic. The highest decline in mental health state was noticed in Greece following the pandemic changes. Similarly, in the USA and the UK there was an increase in life dissatisfaction following COVID -19 changes. Regarding tobacco use health risk perception, the majority of respondents from all the countries reported a high risk (57%) when (20%) stated no/low risk or they were not aware. In Greece though one out of two respondents reported no/low risk or they were not aware about tobacco use health risks. The most well informed about tobacco use risk were the UK residents. Regarding alcohol health risk perception over the half of the respondents (57%) stated low/no risk or were not aware and only (15%) reported high risk. In Greece and the UK, the majority of the respondents reported low/no risk or were not aware about health risks from alcohol use. Finally, regarding NPS use health risk perception the majority of all the NPS users (79%) stated no/ low risk or not aware about the NPS use health risk and only (7%) reported high risk. Needs to be noticed that from the NPS users with underlying health conditions subgroup the (69%) reported low health risk by consuming their favourite NPSs.
Conclusion:
It is clear the great impact of the Covid-19 pandemic leading to mental health decline on population. Mental health promotion strategies are required to be developed as well as strategies focusing on health risks that can be caused by alcohol and tobacco abuse. The low percentages of health risk perception regarding addictive behaviours is concerning and shows the need for enhanced prevention interventions in schools, colleges but also in general public.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2 Apr 2023 |
| Event | European Drug Utilization Research Group conference 2023. - Bologna, Bologna, Italy Duration: 27 Jun 2023 → 30 Jun 2023 https://eventi.unibo.it/eurodurg2023/registration |
Conference
| Conference | European Drug Utilization Research Group conference 2023. |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Italy |
| City | Bologna |
| Period | 27/06/23 → 30/06/23 |
| Internet address |