Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 30;16(3):e0249392. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249392. eCollection 2021.
In the absence of vaccines or causal therapies, behavioral measures such as wearing face masks and maintaining social distance are central to fighting Covid-19. Yet, their benefits are often questioned by the population and the level of adherence to the measures is variable. We examined in representative samples across eight countries (N = 7,568) whether adherence reported around June 1, 2020 predicted the increase in Covid-19 mortality by August 31, 2020. Mortality increased 81.3% in low adherence countries (United States, Sweden, Poland, Russia), 8.4% in high adherence countries (Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom). Across countries adherence and subsequent mortality increases correlated with r = -0.91. No African or South American countries were included in the present study, which limits the generalizability of the findings. While reported Covid-19 mortality is likely to be influenced by other factors, the almost tenfold difference in additional mortality is significant, and may inform decisions when choosing whether to prioritize individual liberty rights or health-protective measures.
在缺乏疫苗或因果疗法的情况下，行为措施（如佩戴口罩和保持社交距离）是抗击新冠病毒的核心手段。然而，这些措施的效果经常受到民众的质疑，其遵循程度也各不相同。我们在八个国家（N=7568）的代表性样本中进行了研究，以确定 2020 年 6 月 1 日报告的遵守情况是否可以预测 2020 年 8 月 31 日新冠病毒死亡率的增加。在低遵守率国家（美国、瑞典、波兰、俄罗斯），死亡率增加了 81.3%，在高遵守率国家（德国、法国、西班牙、英国），死亡率增加了 8.4%。在各国之间，遵守情况与随后的死亡率增加呈负相关，r=-0.91。本研究未包括非洲和南美洲的国家，这限制了研究结果的普遍性。虽然报告的新冠病毒死亡率可能受到其他因素的影响，但额外死亡率的近十倍差异是显著的，这可能有助于在决定是优先考虑个人自由权利还是健康保护措施时做出决策。
