Rosen Joshua E, Chang Sylvia Seo Eun, Williams Spencer, Lee Joy S, Han DaHee, Agrawal Nidhi, Joo Joseph H, Hsieh Gary, Reinecke Katharina, Liao Joshua M
Surgical Outcomes Research Center, Department of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Jan 29;11(3):380. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11030380.
The format used to communicate probability-verbal versus numerical descriptors-can impact risk perceptions and behaviors. This issue is salient for the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), where concerns about vaccine-related risks may reduce uptake and verbal descriptors have been widely used by public health, news organizations and on social media, to convey risk. Because the effect of risk-communication format on perceived COVID-19 vaccine-related risks remains unknown, we conducted an online randomized survey among 939 US adults. Participants were given risk information, using verbal or numerical descriptors and were asked to report their perceived risk of experiencing headache, fever, fatigue or myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccine. Associations between risk communication format and perceived risk were assessed using multivariable regression. Compared to numerical estimates, verbal descriptors were associated with higher perceived risk of headache (β = 5.0 percentage points, 95% CI = 2.0-8.1), fever (β = 27 percentage points, 95% CI = 23-30), fatigue (β = 4.9 percentage points, 95% = CI 1.8-8.0) and myocarditis (β = 4.6 percentage points, 95% CI = 2.1-7.2), as well as greater variability in risk perceptions. Social media influence was associated with differences in risk perceptions for myocarditis, but not side effects. Verbal descriptors may lead to greater, more inaccurate and variable vaccine-related risk perceptions compared to numerical descriptors.
用于传达概率的形式——文字描述与数字描述——会影响风险认知和行为。这个问题在2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）中很突出，在这种情况下，对疫苗相关风险的担忧可能会降低疫苗接种率，而文字描述已被公共卫生部门、新闻机构和社交媒体广泛用于传达风险。由于风险沟通形式对感知到的COVID-19疫苗相关风险的影响尚不清楚，我们对939名美国成年人进行了一项在线随机调查。参与者被给予使用文字或数字描述的风险信息，并被要求报告他们认为因接种COVID-19疫苗而出现头痛、发烧、疲劳或心肌炎的风险。使用多变量回归评估风险沟通形式与感知风险之间的关联。与数字估计相比，文字描述与更高的头痛感知风险（β = 5.0个百分点，95%可信区间 = 2.0 - 8.1）、发烧（β = 27个百分点，95%可信区间 = 23 - 30）、疲劳（β = 4.9个百分点，95% = 可信区间1.8 - 8.0）和心肌炎（β = 4.6个百分点，95%可信区间 = 2.1 - 7.2）相关，以及风险认知的更大变异性。社交媒体影响与心肌炎的风险认知差异相关，但与副作用无关。与数字描述相比，文字描述可能导致更大、更不准确且更具变异性的疫苗相关风险认知。
