Kawahara Takashi, Takeshima Teppei, Makiyama Kazuhide, Uemura Hiroji
Urology, Yokohama City University Medical Center, Yokohama, JPN.
Urology, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, JPN.
Cureus. 2024 Jul 27;16(7):e65549. doi: 10.7759/cureus.65549. eCollection 2024 Jul.
Introduction and objectives The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a worldwide phenomenon. This study conducted a chronological survey of crisis awareness regarding COVID-19 within different age groups. Methods An internet-based survey was performed on healthy Japanese adults to investigate the value of a hypothetical prophylactic vaccine and therapeutic drug for COVID-19 in each age group. In total, 12 groups comprising males and females in six different age groups, leading to a total of 1,200 individuals, were surveyed on a weekly basis. The survey was conducted on Friday of each week commencing from February 14, 2020, to April 10, 2020. At certain times or events such as when the government released major announcements or when there was a rapid increase in the number of infected individuals, a similar survey was conducted on an additional 1,200 individuals per week. Results A total of 12 surveys, including weekly surveys spanning over nine weeks, were conducted; a total of 19,113 samples from 12,254 individuals were obtained. The mean price for a hypothetical prophylactic vaccine was 2876.3 JPY (26.9 USD) at the first survey and was significantly increased to 3357.4 JPY (31.4 USD) for the most recent survey (p<0.0001). The percentage of healthy individuals who were unwilling to pay for a hypothetical therapeutic drug at the onset of COVID-19 symptoms was higher in the young age group than in the elderly groups at all phases, indicating a low level of crisis awareness among some young individuals. On the other hand, the percentage of those willing to pay for more than the standard prophylaxis influenza vaccine remained almost the same in all age groups, and it also increased when COVID-19 infection was widespread. In the sub-analysis, females who have children and married individuals tended to answer higher costs for prevention. Conclusions Changes in crisis awareness in all age groups were found to be associated with an increasing familiarity along with an increase in the number of locally infected individuals. Though the percentage of those who will not pay was higher in the young age group than in the elderly age group, the percentage of those who will pay more than the standard costs of influenza vaccine or treatment drugs was the same between each aging group.
引言与目的 2019 冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的传播是一个全球性现象。本研究对不同年龄组关于 COVID-19 的危机意识进行了时间顺序调查。方法 对健康的日本成年人进行了一项基于互联网的调查，以研究各年龄组中一种假设的 COVID-19 预防性疫苗和治疗药物的价值。总共 12 组，包括六个不同年龄组的男性和女性，共计 1200 人，每周进行调查。调查从 2020 年 2 月 14 日开始至 2020 年 4 月 10 日，每周五进行。在某些特定时间或事件，如政府发布重大公告或感染人数迅速增加时，每周额外对 1200 人进行类似调查。结果 共进行了 12 次调查，包括为期九周的每周调查；从 12254 人那里获得了总共 19113 个样本。在第一次调查中，假设的预防性疫苗的平均价格为 2876.3 日元（26.9 美元），在最近一次调查中显著提高到 3357.4 日元（31.4 美元）（p<0.0001）。在 COVID-19 症状出现时，不愿为假设的治疗药物付费的健康个体的百分比在所有阶段中，年轻年龄组高于老年组，表明一些年轻个体的危机意识较低。另一方面，愿意支付超过标准预防流感疫苗费用的人的百分比在所有年龄组中几乎保持不变，并且在 COVID-19 感染广泛传播时也有所增加。在亚分析中，有孩子的女性和已婚个体倾向于回答更高的预防成本。结论 发现所有年龄组的危机意识变化与对 COVID-19 的熟悉程度增加以及本地感染人数增加有关。尽管年轻年龄组中不愿付费的人的百分比高于老年年龄组，但愿意支付超过流感疫苗或治疗药物标准成本的人的百分比在各年龄组之间是相同的。
