The following is a summary of “Trust in sources of information on COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic’s first wave and incident persistent symptoms in the population-based CONSTANCES cohort: A prospective study,” published in the June 2023 issue of the Psychosomatic Research by Matta et al.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between trust in various sources of information about COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic and the incidence of persistent symptoms. This prospective investigation utilized data from the SAPRIS and SAPRIS-Sérologie cohorts within the French CONSTANCE cohort. From April 6 to May 4, 2020, the credibility of various information sources was evaluated. In December 2020 and January 2021, self-reports of persisting symptoms that manifested subsequently were collected. The psychological burden associated with somatic symptom disorder B was measured using the bodily symptom disorder B criteria scale (SSD-12). 

Adjustments were made for gender, age, education, income, self-assessed health, SARS-CoV-2 serology assays, and self-reported COVID-19 in the analyses. Among 20,985 participants [mean age (SD), 49.0 years (12.7); 50.2% female], those with greater trust in government/journalists at baseline reported fewer incident persistent symptoms at follow-up (estimate (SE) for one IQR increase: 0.21 (0.03), P<0.001). The odds ratio (95% CI) for one IQR increase in trust in government/journalists and medical doctors/scientists was 0.87 (0.82–0.91) and 0.91 (0.85–0.99), respectively. 

Among the 3,372 participants (16.1%) who reported at least one symptom, greater trust in government/journalists and medical doctors/scientists predicted lower SSD-12 scores (0.39 (0.17), P = 0.02 and 0.85 (0.24), P<0.001, respectively). In contrast, greater trust in social media predicted higher scores in those with less confidence in government/journalists (0.90 (0.34), P = 0.008). These associations were independent of surrogate markers of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Regardless of infection with SARS-CoV-2, trust in information sources on COVID-19 may be associated with incident persistent symptoms and psychological burden.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399923001836