MedPageToday And survey study finds similar usage of unproven drugs for COVID among Democrats and Republicans.
Endorsing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, lack of trust in physicians or scientists, and conspiracy-mindedness were linked to the use of non-evidence-based treatments for COVID-19, an internet-based survey study of U.S. adults showed.
Of more than 13,000 survey respondents who reported prior COVID infection, those who endorsed at least one item of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation were more likely to have received ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine (adjusted OR 2.86, 95% CI 2.28-3.58), reported Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues.
Also more likely to receive non-evidence-based medication were those reporting trust in social media (aOR 2.39, 95% CI 2.00-2.87) and in Donald Trump (aOR 2.97, 95% CI 2.34-3.78), and those with greater scores on the American Conspiracy Thinking Scale (aOR 1.10, 95% CI 1.07-1.13), they noted in JAMA Health Forum
“In aggregate, our survey results suggest that the potential harms of misinformation may extend to prescription of ineffective and potentially toxic treatments, rather than simply avoiding health-promoting behaviors, such as vaccination,” Perlis and team wrote.
Conversely, people who reported trusting physicians and hospitals (aOR 0.74, 95% CI 0.56-0.98) and scientists (aOR 0.63, 95% CI 0.51-0.79) were less likely to seek non-evidence-based treatments.