Knowledge and Perceptions of COVID-19 Among the General Public in the United States and the United Kingdom: A Cross-sectional Online Survey

Abstract Introduction: The internet is now the first line source of health information for many people worldwide. In the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, health information is being produced, revised, updated and disseminated at an increasingly rapid rate. The general public are faced with a plethora of misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the readability of online information has an impact on their understanding of the disease. The accessibility of online healthcare information relating to COVID-19 is unknown. We sought to evaluate the readability of online information relating to COVID-19 in four English speaking regions: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, and compare readability of website source provenance and regional origin.Methods: The Google® search engine was used to collate the first twenty webpage URLs for three individual searches for ‘COVID’, ‘COVID-19’, and ‘coronavirus’ from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Flesch-Kincaid Grade (FKG) Score, Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) score were calculated to assess the readability. Results: There were poor levels of readability webpages reviewed, with only 17.2% of webpages at a universally readable level. There was a significant difference in readability between the different webpages based on their information source (p <0.01). Public Health organisations and Government organisations provided the most readable COVID-19 material, while digital media sources were significantly less readable. There were no significant differences in readability between regions. Conclusion: Much of the general public have relied on online information during the pandemic. Information on COVID-19 should be made more readable, and those writing webpages and information tools should ensure universal accessibility is considered in their production. Governments and healthcare practitioners should have an awareness of the online sources of information available, and ensure that readability of our own productions is at a universally readable level which will increase understanding and adherence to health guidelines.

Download Full-text

Readability of Online COVID-19 Health Information: A Comparison between Four English Speaking Countries

10.21203/rs.3.rs-30124/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Amy P Worrall ◽

Mary J Connolly ◽

Aine O'Neill ◽

Murray O'Doherty ◽

Kenneth P Thornton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Health Information ◽

General Public ◽

Information Source ◽

The United States ◽

Online Information ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Significant Difference ◽

English Speaking

Abstract Background: The internet is now the first line source of health information for many people worldwide. In the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, health information is being produced, revised, updated and disseminated at an increasingly rapid rate. The general public are faced with a plethora of misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the readability of online information has an impact on their understanding of the disease. The accessibility of online healthcare information relating to COVID-19 is unknown. We sought to evaluate the readability of online information relating to COVID-19 in four English speaking regions: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, and compare readability of website source provenance and regional origin.Methods: The Google® search engine was used to collate the first twenty webpage URLs for three individual searches for ‘COVID’, ‘COVID-19’, and ‘coronavirus’ from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Flesch-Kincaid Grade (FKG) Score, Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) score were calculated to assess the readability. Results: There were poor levels of readability webpages reviewed, with only 17.2% of webpages at a universally readable level. There was a significant difference in readability between the different webpages based on their information source (p <0.01). Public Health organisations and Government organisations provided the most readable COVID-19 material, while digital media sources were significantly less readable. There were no significant differences in readability between regions. Conclusion: Much of the general public have relied on online information during the pandemic. Information on COVID-19 should be made more readable, and those writing webpages and information tools should ensure universal accessibility is considered in their production. Governments and healthcare practitioners should have an awareness of the online sources of information available, and ensure that readability of our own productions is at a universally readable level which will increase understanding and adherence to health guidelines.

Download Full-text

Salt intake and prevalence of overweight/obesity in Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States: the INTERMAP Study

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition ◽

10.1093/ajcn/nqz067 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 110 (1) ◽

pp. 34-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Long Zhou ◽

Jeremiah Stamler ◽

Queenie Chan ◽

Linda Van Horn ◽

Martha L Daviglus ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Salt Intake ◽

The United States ◽

Dietary Salt ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

P Values ◽

Dietary Salt Intake ◽

Spot Urine ◽

The United Kingdom

ABSTRACT Background Several studies have reported that dietary salt intake may be an independent risk factor for overweight/obesity, but results from previous studies are controversial, reflecting study limitations such as use of a single spot urine or dietary recall to estimate daily salt intake rather than 24-h urine collections, and population samples from only a single country or center. Objective The aim of this study was to use data from the International Study of Macro-/Micro-nutrients and Blood Pressure (INTERMAP Study) to explore the relation between dietary salt intake estimated from 2 timed 24-h urine collections and body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) as well as prevalence of overweight/obesity in Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Methods Data were from a cross-sectional study of 4680 men and women aged 40–59 y in Japan (n = 1145), China (n = 839), the United Kingdom (n = 501), and the United States (n = 2195). General linear models were used to obtain the regression coefficients (β) of salt intake associated with BMI. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine the ORs and 95% CIs of overweight/obesity associated with a 1-g/d higher dietary salt intake. Results After adjustment for potential confounding factors including energy intake, salt intake 1 g/d higher was associated with BMI higher by 0.28 in Japan, 0.10 in China, 0.42 in the United Kingdom, and 0.52 in the United States, all P values < 0.001. Salt intake 1 g/d higher was associated with odds of overweight/obesity 21% higher in Japan, 4% higher in China, 29% higher in the United Kingdom, and 24% higher in the United States, all P values < 0.05. Conclusions Salt intake is positively associated with BMI and the prevalence of overweight/obesity in Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This association needs to be further confirmed in well-designed prospective studies with repeated dietary and BMI measurements.This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00005271.

Download Full-text

The Relationship Between Dividend Yields and Common Equity Returns for Hotel and Lodging Firms in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan: Some Empirical Evidence

Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research ◽

10.1177/109634809802200108 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 84-97 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Atul Sheel

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United Kingdom ◽

The United States ◽

Equity Returns ◽

Global Perspective ◽

Special Importance ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Industry Group ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

The Relationship

Dividend policies of hotel and lodging firms are often constrained by various restrictive debt covenants. Such restrictions are imposed by institutional lenders as protective measures, especially when the financial and operating leverage trends in a specific industry group are very high. Given such restrictions and constrained dividend payouts, the question of “dividend relevance” has special importance for firms in the hotel and lodging industry. This research is a cross-sectional analysis of the dividend/return relationship for hotel and lodging firms in three major G7 markets, namely, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. Although empirical findings suggest a positive nonlinear dividend/return relationship for hotel and lodging firms in these countries, they also reveal the presence of distinct country-specific effects in the above relationship. As such, the nature of the relationship between dividend yields and common equity returns for hotel and lodging firms is better understood from a global perspective.

Download Full-text

Readability of online COVID-19 health information: a comparison between four English speaking countries

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-020-09710-5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Amy P. Worrall ◽

Mary J. Connolly ◽

Aine O’Neill ◽

Murray O’Doherty ◽

Kenneth P. Thornton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Health Information ◽

General Public ◽

Information Source ◽

The United States ◽

Online Information ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Significant Difference ◽

English Speaking

Abstract Background The internet is now the first line source of health information for many people worldwide. In the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, health information is being produced, revised, updated and disseminated at an increasingly rapid rate. The general public are faced with a plethora of misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the readability of online information has an impact on their understanding of the disease. The accessibility of online healthcare information relating to COVID-19 is unknown. We sought to evaluate the readability of online information relating to COVID-19 in four English speaking regions: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, and compare readability of website source provenance and regional origin. Methods The Google® search engine was used to collate the first 20 webpage URLs for three individual searches for ‘COVID’, ‘COVID-19’, and ‘coronavirus’ from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Flesch-Kincaid Grade (FKG) Score, Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) score were calculated to assess the readability. Results There were poor levels of readability webpages reviewed, with only 17.2% of webpages at a universally readable level. There was a significant difference in readability between the different webpages based on their information source (p < 0.01). Public Health organisations and Government organisations provided the most readable COVID-19 material, while digital media sources were significantly less readable. There were no significant differences in readability between regions. Conclusion Much of the general public have relied on online information during the pandemic. Information on COVID-19 should be made more readable, and those writing webpages and information tools should ensure universal accessibility is considered in their production. Governments and healthcare practitioners should have an awareness of the online sources of information available, and ensure that readability of our own productions is at a universally readable level which will increase understanding and adherence to health guidelines.

Download Full-text