Vacunación COVID-19 y búsquedas web sobre salud mental: un estudio infodemiológico mundial

Background

The association between worldwide COVID-19 vaccination and mental health has been largely unexplored by means of infodemiological studies.

Objective

To explore how global public interest in different mental health topics changed between the pre-vaccination pandemic stage and the different periods of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Methods

In this study were examined the relative search volume (RSV) in Google Trends for “anxiety”, “depression”, “stress”, and “suicide” between March 1st, 2020 to January 1st, 2023. The RSV for each term was compared with respect to 4 periods: the pre-vaccination pandemic stage; the period from initiation of vaccination until 50% of the population was fully vaccinated (FV); the period from 50% FV to 60% FV; and the period after 60% FV.

Results

A significant lower mean RSV on anxiety, depression and suicide was found once 60% of the world population had been FV compared to different previous vaccination periods and with the pre-vaccination pandemic stage.

Conclusions

There seems to be less need for information worldwide on anxiety, depression and suicide topics once 60% of the population is FV against COVID-19. Overcoming this vaccination milestone may have had a positive impact on public interest in specific mental health issues.