Societal Criticism towards COVID-19: Assessing the Theory of Self-Diagnosis Contrasted to Medical Diagnosis

Dimitra S. Mouliou, Ioannis Pantazopoulos, Konstantinos I. Gourgoulianis
2021 Diagnostics  
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a pandemic introducing the mass autodiagnosis via rapid antigen testing methods, and self-tests were important for several populaces, yet with several neglected issues. In addition, hospital diagnosis was a target of many people or media, as the various COVID-19 clinical phenotypes trammel the precise emergency physicians' response. Methods: A web-based questionnaire was disseminated through social media in the first half of August 2021 in the
more » ... reek populace, assessing the societal criticism for autodiagnosis and medical diagnosis and their issues, just before the occurrence of the fourth pandemic wave in the country. Results: Two thirds of the responders characterized self-tests as unreliable and two fifths reported them dangerous. Reliability (OR 1.335; CI 0.060–0.300; p = 0.000) and danger (OR 5.068; CI 3139–8184; p = 0.000) were significant predictors for the population-based sample's volition for a self-test. Reversely, regarding medical diagnosis, half of the responders reported the lack of reliability and effectiveness in the emergency departments, which had a significant impact on willingness to visit a hospital if needed (OR 3.207; CI 1987–5182; p = 0.000 and OR 3.506; CI 2167–5670; p = 0.000). Conclusions: The importance of community-based questionnaires is highlighted for assessing people's criticism and improving the highlighted points in several topics.
doi:10.3390/diagnostics11101777 pmid:34679475 fatcat:5adnqiz4jfc3vfm7s45b5uo7se