Cyberchondria and Associated Factors Among Brazilian and Portuguese Dentists.

Abstract

Cyberchondria is a psychopathological behavior that affects people who compulsively consult the internet, by searching the symptoms of different pathologies from which they believe they are suffering, and when influenced by what they read, are sure they have some of these diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the cyberchondria level and associated factors among Brazilian and Portuguese dentists. A total 597 Brazilian and Portuguese dentists participated in this cross-sectional study. They were contacted via WhatsApp and asked to complete an online questionnaire on the Google Forms platform, from January 17 to 31, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sociodemographic information was collected and cyberchondria was measured using the Portuguese language version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale. Binary logistic regression models were used to estimate the unadjusted and adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) for theassociationofcyberchondria and covariates. Each covariate was individually included in the regression model, and the unadjusted OR (95% CI) was estimated. Most participants were Brazilian (62.8%), women (75.5%), married (60.5%) and with children (55.6%). Average age was 42.1 years (+ 12.5). In the final model, it was found that with each increase of one year in age, the chance of a high level of cyberchondria decreased (OR=0.97; 95% CI 0.95-0.98). Brazilian dentists were 1.85 times more likely (95% CI 1.25-2.75) to have a high level of cyberchondria than Portuguese dentists. Women were 1.62 times more likely (95% CI 1.07-2.44) to have a high level of cyberchondria than men. It was concluded that young age, Brazilian nationality, and female gender favored the high level of cyberchondria among the participants in this sample during COVID-19 pandemic.