Factors Associated with the Perception of Risk and Knowledge of Contracting the SARS-Cov-2 among Adults in Bangladesh: Analysis of Online Surveys.

Tanvir Abir,Abdullah Al Mamun,P Yukthamarani Permarupan,Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah,Taha Husain,Uchechukwu Levi Osuagwu,Palash Basak,Kingsley E Agho,Dewan Muhammad Nur-A Yazdani

doi:10.3390/ijerph17145252

Abstract

This study investigated the perception and awareness of risk among adult participants in Bangladesh about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). During the lockdown era in Bangladesh at two different time points, from 26−31 March 2020 (early lockdown) and 11−16 May 2020 (late lockdown), two self-administered online surveys were conducted on 1005 respondents (322 and 683 participants, respectively) via social media. To examine risk perception and knowledge-related factors towards COVID-19, univariate and multiple linear regression models were employed. Scores of mean knowledge (8.4 vs. 8.1, p = 0.022) and perception of risk (11.2 vs. 10.6, p < 0.001) differed significantly between early and late lockdown. There was a significant decrease in perceived risk scores for contracting SARS-Cov-2 [β = −0.85, 95%CI: −1.31, −0.39], while knowledge about SARS-Cov-2 decreased insignificantly [β = −0.22, 95%CI: −0.46, 0.03] in late lockdown compared with early lockdown period. Self-quarantine was a common factor linked to increased perceived risks and knowledge of SARS-Cov-2 during the lockdown period. Any effort to increase public awareness and comprehension of SARS-Cov-2 in Bangladesh will then offer preference to males, who did not practice self-quarantine and are less worried about the propagation of this kind of virus.

Highlights

The increasingly busy human civilization has been interrupted by a deadly pandemic which, no matter how distinctive, threatens every nation in the world [1]
Compared with the early lockdown period, the results indicated that perceived risk scores for contracting COVID-19 in late lockdown period reduced significantly (adjusted coefficients (β) −0.85, 95% confidence intervals (CIs):−1.31, −0.39)
The findings of this study show that many of the respondents in Bangladesh were very worried about the spread of COVID-19 coupled with their significant inadequacies in the knowledge of the disease

Summary

Introduction

The increasingly busy human civilization has been interrupted by a deadly pandemic which, no matter how distinctive, threatens every nation in the world [1]. SARS-CoV-2 is a beta coronavirus genetic more closely linked to the SARS-CoV-1 (79% sequence identity) than to the MERS-CoV (51.8% identity) [2]. This virus was first detected in the city of Wuhan, a Chinese province of Hubei, in December 2019 when few patients were documenting a very different form of the acute pneumonia-like disease in that area [3]. The infection quickly became a source of concern since no accepted cure or current drug was available to combat the virus [5]. SARS-Cov-2 propagated extremely rapidly, infecting millions in just a few days [6]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion