Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Health Law Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
BMJ Open. 2020 Oct 26;10(10):e040989. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040989.
The spread of misinformation has accompanied the coronavirus pandemic, including topics such as immune boosting to prevent COVID-19. This study explores how immune boosting is portrayed on the internet during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Content analysis.
We compiled a dataset of 227 webpages from Google searches in Canada and the USA using the phrase 'boost immunity' AND 'coronavirus' on 1 April 2020. We coded webpages for typology and portrayal of immune boosting and supplements. We recorded mentions of microbiome, whether the webpage was selling or advertising an immune boosting product or service, and suggested strategies for boosting immunity.
No significant differences were found between webpages that appeared in the searches in Canada and the USA. The most common types of webpages were from news (40.5%) and commercial (24.7%) websites. The concept of immune boosting was portrayed as beneficial for avoiding COVID-19 in 85.5% of webpages and supplements were portrayed as beneficial in 40% of the webpages, but commercial sites were more likely to have these portrayals. The top immune boosting strategies were vitamin C (34.8%), diet (34.4%), sleep (34.4%), exercise (30.8%) and zinc (26.9%). Less than 10% of the webpages provide any critique of the concept of immune boosting.
Pairing evidence-based advice for maintaining one's health (eg, healthy diet, exercise, sleep) with the phrase immune boosting and strategies lacking in evidence may inadvertently help to legitimise the concept, making it a powerful marketing tool. Results demonstrate how the spread of misinformation is complex and often more subtle than blatant fraudulent claims.
新冠疫情期间，错误信息广泛传播，包括增强免疫力以预防 COVID-19 等话题。本研究探讨了在新冠疫情期间，互联网上是如何描述增强免疫力的。
内容分析。
我们于 2020 年 4 月 1 日在加拿大和美国使用“boost immunity”和“coronavirus”这两个短语在谷歌搜索中编制了一个包含 227 个网页的数据集。我们对网页的分类和增强免疫力及补充剂的描述进行了编码。我们记录了微生物组的提及情况、网页是否在销售或宣传增强免疫力的产品或服务，以及增强免疫力的建议策略。
加拿大和美国搜索结果中的网页之间没有发现显著差异。最常见的网页类型是新闻（40.5%）和商业（24.7%）网站。增强免疫力的概念在 85.5%的网页中被描述为有助于预防 COVID-19，而在 40%的网页中补充剂被描述为有益，但商业网站更有可能有这些描述。顶级的增强免疫力策略是维生素 C（34.8%）、饮食（34.4%）、睡眠（34.4%）、运动（30.8%）和锌（26.9%）。不到 10%的网页对增强免疫力的概念提出任何批评。
将保持健康的循证建议（如健康饮食、运动、睡眠）与缺乏证据的增强免疫力的说法结合起来，可能会无意中帮助使这个概念合法化，使其成为一个强大的营销工具。研究结果表明，错误信息的传播是复杂的，而且往往比明显的欺诈性声明更微妙。
