Department of Medical Education Research and Development, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan.
Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 28;18(9):4717. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18094717.
Face mask use is a critical behavior to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2. We aimed to evaluate the association between social integration and face mask use during the COVID-19 pandemic in a random sample of households in Utsunomiya City, Greater Tokyo, Japan. Data included 645 adults in the Utsunomiya COVID-19 seROprevalence Neighborhood Association (U-CORONA) study, which was conducted after the first wave of the pandemic, between 14 June 2020 and 5 July 2020, in Utsunomiya City. Social integration before the pandemic was assessed by counting the number of social roles, based on the Cohen's social network index. Face mask use before and during the pandemic was assessed by questionnaire, and participants were categorized into consistent mask users, new users, and current non-users. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between lower social integration score and face mask use. To account for possible differential non-response bias, non-response weights were used. Of the 645 participants, 172 (26.7%) were consistent mask users and 460 (71.3%) were new users, while 13 (2.0%) were current non-users. Lower social integration level was positively associated with non-users (RRR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.10, 2.82). Social integration may be important to promote face mask use.
口罩使用是预防 SARS-CoV-2 传播的关键行为。我们旨在评估社交整合度与 COVID-19 大流行期间在日本东京都宇都宫市随机抽取的家庭中口罩使用之间的关联。该研究的数据来自 Utsunomiya COVID-19 seROprevalence Neighborhood Association (U-CORONA) 研究中的 645 名成年人，该研究于 COVID-19 大流行第一波过后的 2020 年 6 月 14 日至 7 月 5 日在宇都宫市进行。社交整合度在大流行前通过基于科恩社交网络指数的社会角色数量来评估。口罩使用情况在大流行前和大流行期间通过问卷调查进行评估，参与者分为一致口罩使用者、新使用者和当前非使用者。使用多项逻辑回归分析来检查社交整合度评分较低与口罩使用之间的关联。为了考虑可能存在的差异无响应偏差，使用了无响应权重。在 645 名参与者中，172 名（26.7%）是一致口罩使用者，460 名（71.3%）是新使用者，而 13 名（2.0%）是当前非使用者。较低的社交整合度水平与非使用者呈正相关（RRR：1.76，95%CI：1.10，2.82）。社交整合度可能对促进口罩使用很重要。
