The impact of source and consumption of news on mental distress among inflammatory bowel disease patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background We sought to understand the trends in media use, and how consumption and source affected mental health of persons with inflammatory bowel disease during the early parts of the pandemic. Dissemination of news during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was integral to educating the public but also could be harmful if constantly consumed, leading to worsening anxiety.Methods We performed a survey study in autumn 2020 during the second wave of COVID-19 in Manitoba. The survey included questions on consumption of COVID-19 news, along with validated measures of perceived stress, generalized anxiety, health anxiety, and depression. We used multivariable logistic regression analysis to assess trusted sources of news as a predictor of clinically significant mental health symptoms.Results Of the 2940 participants in the registry, 1384 (47.1%) persons responded. The most trusted sources of news were television (64.2%), internet (46.1%), newspaper (27.6%), friends/family (21.7%), social media (16.9%), and radio (16.6%). Those who trusted social media had higher odds of depression (aOR 1.52, 95%CI 1.04-2.22), and perceived stress (aOR 2.56, 95%CI 1.09-2.21). Persons who reported extreme difficulty limiting their time-consuming news about COVID-19 and who spent more than 1 h daily consuming information on COVID-19 both had increased odds of any clinically significant mental health symptoms.Conclusions It is unknown if consumption of COVID-19 news led to heightened mental health symptoms or if increasing anxieties and concerns led to consuming more news. Further research is needed to assess whether these elevated mental health symptoms led to worse disease outcomes. Persons with inflammation in their bowels had more stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. We looked at how these people got their news, and if this affected their stress or anxiety. We surveyed these people with questions on how they got their news and about their stress and anxiety. The most used news sources were TV and internet, and social media and radio were the least used. People who used social media were more likely to have symptoms of depression and stress. Those who had trouble limiting their news about COVID-19, along with those who spent more than 1 hour per day getting information on COVID-19, were more likely to have mental health symptoms. It is not known if getting news on COVID-19 led to worse mental health symptoms, or vice versa. More research is needed to know if this anxiety and stress caused a long-term change in the disease in people with inflammation in their bowels.