Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway.
Scand J Public Health. 2022 Feb;50(1):61-69. doi: 10.1177/14034948211018385. Epub 2021 May 27.
A nocebo effect occurs when inactive factors lead to worsening of symptoms or reduce treatment outcomes. Believing that one is or has been infected with COVID-19 may act as a nocebo. However, not much is known about potential nocebo effects associated with the reporting of COVID-19 symptoms.
An online survey investigated whether certainty of being infected with COVID-19, age, sex, cognitive, emotional and personality factors were associated with perceived severity of COVID-19 symptoms.
Participants (=375) filled out an online survey containing 57 questions asking about symptoms resembling COVID-19, certainty of being infected with COVID-19, anxiety, stress and personality dimensions.
Certainty of being infected with COVID-19 and anxiety predicted 27% of the variance in reporting of COVID-like symptoms. The mediation analysis showed that both higher certainty of being infected and anxiety independently predicted increased reports of COVID-like symptom. Females had higher anxiety and stress levels, and reported more COVID-like symptoms than males did. Older age was not associated with reporting COVID-like symptoms.
Believing to be infected with COVID-19, along with anxiety, can enhance the severity of COVID-like symptoms. Thus, the nocebo effect was due to both cognitive and emotional factors and was higher in females.
当无效因素导致症状恶化或降低治疗效果时，就会产生一种反安慰剂效应。相信自己或已经感染了 COVID-19 可能会产生反安慰剂效应。然而，对于与报告 COVID-19 症状相关的潜在反安慰剂效应，我们知之甚少。
一项在线调查研究了感染 COVID-19 的确定性、年龄、性别、认知、情绪和人格因素是否与感知到的 COVID-19 症状严重程度有关。
参与者（=375）填写了一份在线调查，其中包含 57 个问题，询问了类似于 COVID-19 的症状、感染 COVID-19 的确定性、焦虑、压力和人格维度。
感染 COVID-19 的确定性和焦虑预测了报告 COVID-样症状的 27%的方差。中介分析表明，较高的感染确定性和焦虑都独立地预测了 COVID-样症状的增加报告。女性的焦虑和压力水平较高，报告的 COVID-样症状也比男性多。年龄较大与报告 COVID-样症状无关。
相信自己感染了 COVID-19，以及焦虑，会加重 COVID-样症状的严重程度。因此，反安慰剂效应是由认知和情绪因素共同作用的，并且在女性中更为明显。
