{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"medRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T22:10:40Z","timestamp":1771539040943,"version":"3.50.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,22]]},"group-title":"Epidemiology","reference-count":47,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,22]],"date-time":"2024-11-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1732233600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>During a public health emergency, interest in unsafe or illegitimate medications can delay appropriate treatment and foster medical mistrust.<\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>We obtained daily US-based Google Search Trends and Media Cloud data from 2019-2022 to assess the relationship between search interest and media coverage in three purported COVID-19 treatments: hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and remdesivir.<\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Search interest and media coverage of all COVID-19 treatments were significantly elevated during the study period; search interest was highest for ivermectin (6.0 out of 100; interquartile range [IQR]: 1.9-9.9), while media covered hydroxychloroquine most frequently (0.05% of all articles published; IQR: 0.02-0.13%). Anomaly detection of both data sources identified several points of higher-than-expected activity; anomalies in search interest and media coverage showed similar patterns within treatments. There were distinct patterns of media coverage \u2013 while the plurality of sources for all treatments were considered \u201cLeft\u201d or \u201cLeft Leaning\u201d, ivermectin was covered by the highest number of \u201cRight\u201d-biased sources and remdesivir had the highest coverage by \u201cCenter\u201d or \u201cunbiased\u201d sources. When assessing the co-occurrence of words and phrases in media sources covering each of the treatments, there were distinct qualitative difference in the categories of words appearing alongside the drugs. Specifically, ivermectin appeared to be reported more frequently in association with specific individuals than media mentioning the other drugs. In google searches, people seemed most interested in understanding what hydroxychloroquine is and the uses of ivermectin (e.g., \u201cfor humans\u201d, \u201cfor dogs\u201d). We found significant associations between media coverage and search interest for all three treatments. Media coverage had the strongest impact on same-day search interest for remdesivir (199.7% increase, 95% CI: 179.2, 221.6) and hydroxychloroquine (182.6% increase, 95% CI: 172.8, 192.7); interest dropped significantly 1 and 2 days after media coverage of these treatments. Interest in ivermectin was lower overall (105.0% increase, 95% CI: 97.9, 112.3) but stayed elevated even 2 days after media coverage. When evaluating the separate impact of search interest on media coverage, the associations were much weaker for all three treatments and all lagged conditions.<\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>During a public health emergency, the information that populations access can directly influence health-seeking behaviors, with potentially life-threatening consequences. More broadly, positive media coverage of unsafe or unapproved medications can deter individuals from trusting and accessing safe alternatives that are more likely to be efficacious in preventing disease progression. Given the strong association between treatment-related news media coverage and public interest in said treatments, our results suggest that news media serve as a powerful mechanism for experts to inform the landscape of public opinion and to reach audiences during future public health emergencies.<\/jats:p>\n                <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1101\/2024.11.20.24317650","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,22]],"date-time":"2024-11-22T10:55:14Z","timestamp":1732272914000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Search interest in alleged COVID-19 treatments during the pandemic and the impact of mass news media"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9928-8275","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emily E","family":"Ricotta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD, USA 20814"},{"name":"Division of Intramural Research (DIR), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, USA 20892"},{"name":"CompEpi Dispersed Volunteer Research Network, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Samantha","family":"Bents","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Intramural Research (DIR), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, USA 20892"},{"name":"CompEpi Dispersed Volunteer Research Network, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA, USA"},{"name":"Fogarty International Center, NIH, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Brendan","family":"Lawler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CompEpi Dispersed Volunteer Research Network, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA, USA"},{"name":"Computational Health Informatics Program, Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, USA 02115"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Berkane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CompEpi Dispersed Volunteer Research Network, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA, USA"},{"name":"Computational Health Informatics Program, Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, USA 02115"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fausto A","family":"Bustos Carrillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD, USA 20814"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8627-3920","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Brianna A","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CompEpi Dispersed Volunteer Research Network, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA, USA"},{"name":"Political Science, United States Naval Academy, 121 Blake Rd, Annapolis, MD, USA 21402"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3986-4303","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maimuna S","family":"Majumder","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CompEpi Dispersed Volunteer Research Network, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA, USA"},{"name":"Computational Health Informatics Program, Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, USA 02115"},{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA, USA 02115"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026021913200610000_2024.11.20.24317650v2.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/07853890.2020.1839959"},{"key":"2026021913200610000_2024.11.20.24317650v2.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2021.3071"},{"key":"2026021913200610000_2024.11.20.24317650v2.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s43441-022-00378-0"},{"key":"2026021913200610000_2024.11.20.24317650v2.4","unstructured":"Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. 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