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Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study

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  • Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy

    (Institute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar
    Co-first authors. The first two authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Sohaila Cheema

    (Institute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar
    Co-first authors. The first two authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Patrick Maisonneuve

    (Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, Italy)

  • Amit Abraham

    (Institute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar)

  • Ingmar Weber

    (Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar)

  • Jisun An

    (Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar)

  • Albert B. Lowenfels

    (Department of Surgery, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, NY 10595, USA
    Department of Family Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, NY 10595, USA)

  • Ravinder Mamtani

    (Institute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar)

Abstract

While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe, we have witnessed substantial mis- and disinformation regarding various aspects of the disease. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire for the general public (recruited via social media) and healthcare workers (recruited via email) from the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa region to understand the knowledge of and anxiety levels around COVID-19 (April–June 2020) during the early stage of the pandemic. The final dataset used for the analysis comprised of 1658 questionnaires (53.0% of 3129 received questionnaires; 1337 [80.6%] from the general public survey and 321 [19.4%] from the healthcare survey). Knowledge about COVID-19 was significantly different across the two survey populations, with a much higher proportion of healthcare workers possessing better COVID-19 knowledge than the general public (62.9% vs. 30.0%, p < 0.0001). A reverse effect was observed for anxiety, with a higher proportion of very anxious (or really frightened) respondents among the general public compared to healthcare workers (27.5% vs. 11.5%, p < 0.0001). A higher proportion of the general public tended to overestimate their chance of dying if they become ill with COVID-19, with 251 (18.7%) reporting the chance of dying (once COVID-19 positive) to be ≥25% versus 19 (5.9%) of healthcare workers ( p < 0.0001). Good knowledge about COVID-19 was associated with low levels of anxiety. Panic and unfounded anxiety, as well as casual and carefree attitudes, can propel risk taking and mistake-making, thereby increasing vulnerability. It is important that governments, public health agencies, healthcare workers, and civil society organizations keep themselves updated regarding scientific developments and that they relay messages to the community in an honest, transparent, unbiased, and timely manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy & Sohaila Cheema & Patrick Maisonneuve & Amit Abraham & Ingmar Weber & Jisun An & Albert B. Lowenfels & Ravinder Mamtani, 2021. "Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-12, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6439-:d:574798
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lucía del Río-Casanova & Milagrosa Sánchez-Martín & Ana García-Dantas & Anabel González-Vázquez & Ania Justo, 2021. "Psychological Responses According to Gender during the Early Stage of COVID-19 in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-20, April.
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    1. Michela Gabelloni & Lorenzo Faggioni & Roberta Fusco & Federica De Muzio & Ginevra Danti & Francesca Grassi & Roberta Grassi & Pierpaolo Palumbo & Federico Bruno & Alessandra Borgheresi & Alessandra B, 2023. "Exploring Radiologists’ Burnout in the COVID-19 Era: A Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Telmo Raul Aveiro-Róbalo & Luciana Daniela Garlisi-Torales & Marisella Chumán-Sánchez & César J. Pereira-Victorio & Mariana Huaman-Garcia & Virgilio E. Failoc-Rojas & Mario J. Valladares-Garrido, 2022. "Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in University Students in Paraguay during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-14, October.

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