Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Sitong Luo, Rui She, Mason M. C. Lau, Joseph T. F. Lau
Summary: This study investigated the level of behavioral intention to consult doctors for flu symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and found associations with illness representations of COVID-19 and fear of COVID-19 during clinic visits. The results emphasize the importance of improving people's understanding of COVID-19 and providing coping strategies for emotional responses to COVID-19.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tun-Linn Thein, Li Wei Ang, Barnaby Edward Young, Mark I-Cheng Chen, Yee-Sin Leo, David Chien Boon Lye
Summary: The study identified shortness of breath as the strongest predictor for distinguishing between COVID-19 and influenza, followed by diarrhea. Higher lymphocyte count was predictive of COVID-19 compared to influenza and dengue. Cough and higher platelet count were associated with increased odds of COVID-19 compared to dengue, while symptoms like headache, joint pain, skin rash, and vomiting/nausea indicated dengue.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Peter Johannes Schulz, Elin M. Andersson, Nicole Bizzotto, Margareta Norberg
Summary: The study aimed to understand people's worried reactions to COVID-19 and lockdown measures in Sweden, where voluntary measures were relied upon. The longitudinal study found that individual worries varied greatly, with factors such as infection severity, susceptibility, safeguarding efficacy, and assessment of government actions influencing worry levels.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Dechuan Kong, Yuanping Wang, Lu Lu, Huanyu Wu, Chuchu Ye, Abram L. Wagner, Jixing Yang, Yaxu Zheng, Xiaohuan Gong, Yiyi Zhu, Bihong Jin, Wenjia Xiao, Shenghua Mao, Chenyan Jiang, Sheng Lin, Ruobing Han, Xiao Yu, Peng Cui, Qiwen Fang, Yihan Lu, Hao Pan
Summary: International travel can lead to the spread of COVID-19, as shown in this study of Chinese tour groups in Europe. The disease mainly spread through familial and propagative transmission within the tour groups, impacting individuals in shared flights, shopping venues, and return flights to China.
TRANSBOUNDARY AND EMERGING DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
David Watson, Lee Anna Clark, Leonard J. Simms, Roman Kotov
Summary: In this study, fear and anxiety are examined in the context of personality and psychopathology models, along with their assessment. Anxiety is a sustained, future-oriented response to potential threat, while fear is a brief, present-focused response to acute threat. Assessing individual differences in fear can be done through phobic responses to specific stimuli or through differentiating between harm avoidance and risk taking. These measures are correlated with various personality traits and factors within psychopathology models.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
David Watson, Lee Anna Clark, Leonard J. Simms, Roman Kotov
Summary: This article explores the relationships between fear and anxiety within structural models of personality and psychopathology, as well as important issues related to their assessment. Anxiety represents a core facet within the domain of neuroticism, while fear is a response to acute threat. Different assessment methods reflect individual differences in fear and anxiety.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Review
Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine
Lakshman Perera Samaranayake, Chaminda Jayampath Seneviratne, Kausar Sadia Fakhruddin
Summary: The successful development of a vaccine against COVID-19 within a short period of time is a testament to human ingenuity, with vaccination being crucial for dental professionals as it may become a mandatory requirement in dental practice.
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Michael Richley, Rashmi R. Rao, Yalda Afshar, Jenny Mei, Thalia Mok, Tara Vijayan, Stacey Weinstein, Christine U. Pham, Jason Madamba, Christina S. Shin, Deborah Suda, Christina S. Han
Summary: This study presents a retrospective case series of pregnant patients who received monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19, and the results suggest that pregnant patients who received treatment generally had favorable outcomes.
OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Virology
Lutfiye Karcioglu Batur, Nezih Hekim
Summary: This study identified a significant correlation between polymorphisms in the IL-10 gene at rs1800896, IL-17A gene at rs2275913, and IL-17F gene at rs763780, and the prevalence and mortality rates of COVID-19 among populations of 23 countries.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Jung Jae Lee, Sun-Hwa Shin
Summary: This study investigates the associations between Internet addiction and psychological distress, including fear of COVID-19 and depression, in South Korean adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study finds that 11.17% of South Korean adults are at risk of Internet addiction, 15.15% have fear of COVID-19, and 37.23% experience depression. Internet addiction is positively associated with fear of COVID-19 and depressive symptoms. This suggests that addictive Internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to psychological distress.
Article
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Regina Allande-Cusso, Marta Linares Manrique, Juan Gomez-Salgado, Adolfo Romero Ruiz, Macarena Romero-Martin, Juan J. Garcia-Iglesias, Carlos Ruiz-Frutos
Summary: The study showed that the Spanish population has moderate levels of anxiety towards coronavirus disease 2019, with women, married individuals, those with primary and/or secondary education, and those working in public transport, services, and/or hospitality sectors more likely to experience high levels of fear and anxiety.
Article
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Regina Allande-Cusso, Marta Linares Manrique, Juan Gomez-Salgado, Adolfo Romero Ruiz, Macarena Romero-Martin, Juan J. Garcia-Iglesias, Carlos Ruiz-Frutos
Summary: The study found that the adult population in Spain shows moderate levels of anxiety towards the coronavirus disease 2019. Women, married individuals, those with primary and/or secondary education levels, and those working in public transport, services, and hospitality sectors are more likely to have higher levels of fear and anxiety. The results could be utilized for therapeutic interventions, preventive measures, and future research focusing on gender differences and socio-economic aspects.
Article
Oncology
Thuy Linh Duong, Nayoung Lee, Yonghyun Kim, Yeol Kim
Summary: The study found a considerable proportion of the general population had more fear of COVID-19 than lung cancer, which significantly hindered their engagement in regular medical check-ups including cancer screening.
TRANSLATIONAL LUNG CANCER RESEARCH
(2021)
Review
Psychology, Clinical
Daelin Coutts-Bain, Louise Sharpe, Pirathat Techakesari, Madeline Anne Forrester, Caroline Hunt
Summary: Fear of recurrence or progression (FORP) of mental health conditions has received comparatively little study compared to physical illnesses. This study systematically reviewed quantitative and qualitative research on FORP in mental health. The findings suggest that FORP is associated with poorer quality of life and mental health outcomes, but not with age or gender. These results highlight the importance of addressing FORP in mental health.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Shahrad Hakimian, Daniel Raines, George Reed, Mark Hanscom, Lilia Stefaniwsky, Matthew Petersile, Prashanth Rau, Anne Foley, David Cave
Summary: This study found that using Video Capsule Endoscopy (VCE) as an initial evaluation method for acute gastrointestinal bleeding during the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to be a safe and useful alternative to traditional upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. VCE was associated with increased detection of active bleeding and a reduced number of invasive procedures, avoiding personnel exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and saving personal protective equipment.
Article
Substance Abuse
Natacha Carragher, Jiang Long, Ilinca Radu, Daniel L. King, Joel Billieux, Hans-Jurgen Rumpf, Sawitri Assanangkornchai, John B. Saunders, Susumu Higuchi
Summary: This study is a qualitative survey that examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on problem gaming and gambling worldwide. It reveals various effects such as changes in policies and regulations, increases in gaming and gambling activities, adverse health outcomes, and challenges in accessing treatment facilities.
INTERNATIONAL GAMBLING STUDIES
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Natale Canale, Luca Pancani, Erika Pivetta, Tania Moretta, Claudia Marino, Giulia Buodo, Alessio Vieno, Mario Dalmaso, Joel Billieux
Summary: In this study, four classes of smartphone users were identified: low smartphone impact, average smartphone impact, problematic smartphone users, and users favoring online interactions. Problematic smartphone users were characterized by heightened psychopathological symptoms and impulsivity traits, while users who preferred online interactions exhibited the highest symptoms of social anxiety and the lowest levels of self-esteem.
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Tristan Hamonniere, Joel Billieux
Summary: The process-based approach identifies transdiagnostic psychological processes and tailors interventions accordingly, in contrast to standardized treatments based on psychiatric diagnoses or symptoms. In this case, a woman with concurrent substance use and emotional symptoms underwent an individualized process-based treatment using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. The treatment successfully targeted the underlying psychological processes, resulting in reduced substance abuse and emotional symptoms. This approach proves valuable for complex cases with multiple comorbidities, providing an alternative to symptom- or syndrome-based approaches.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY & PSYCHOTHERAPY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Substance Abuse
Joel Billieux, Lois Fournier
Summary: The present commentary aims to extend the work conducted by Karhulahti et al. (2022) by performing network analysis on the four gaming disorder assessment tools they studied. The analysis revealed a high degree of overlap among the items, suggesting that these tools measure substantially homogeneous constructs. These exploratory results challenge the notion of ontological diversity in the context of gaming disorder assessment and diagnosis.
ADDICTION RESEARCH & THEORY
(2023)
Article
Substance Abuse
Charlotte Eben, Zhang Chen, Joel Billieux, Frederick Verbruggen
Summary: This study replicated the illusion-of-control effect in an online context, although the effect size was smaller than expected.
INTERNATIONAL GAMBLING STUDIES
(2023)
Article
Substance Abuse
Charlotte Eben, Zhang Chen, Joel Billieux, Frederick Verbruggen
Summary: In gambling, people tend to speed up after losses, while in experimental psychology's behavioral tasks, we often observe a slowing down after errors. This study tested whether perceived control over the outcome would influence response speed after negative outcomes in gambling, and found that the illusion of control did not influence post-loss speeding.
INTERNATIONAL GAMBLING STUDIES
(2023)
Article
Substance Abuse
Christina R. R. Galanis, Nathan Weber, Paul H. H. Delfabbro, Joel Billieux, Daniel L. L. King
Summary: This study aimed to assess the stigmatizing effects on gamers. The findings suggest that framing problem gaming as an addictive disorder or non-addictive activity has negligible effects on stigma among middle-age adults.
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Erika Pivetta, Sebastiano Costa, Jean-Philippe Antonietti, Claudia Marino, Joel Billeux, Natale Canale
Summary: Previous research has mostly collected information from adolescents and little is known about parental perceptions. This study aimed to examine multiple informants' reports of adolescent problematic gaming (PG) and maternal behaviors, and to distinguish between shared and unique perceptions between mothers and adolescents. The results showed that mothers reported higher scores of PG in their offspring and there were positive associations between maternal indifference and adolescent PG for both informants. However, the correlations based on shared perceptions did not reach statistical significance, while the correlations based on mothers' unique perceptions were statistically significant for all relationships.
ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Alexandre Infanti, Vladan Starcevic, Adriano Schimmenti, Yasser Khazaal, Laurent Karila, Alessandro Giardina, Maeva Flayelle, Seyedeh Boshra Hedayatzadeh Razavi, Stephanie Baggio, Claus Vogele, Joel Billieux
Summary: This study aims to investigate the changes in the severity of cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify the predictors of cyberchondria at this time. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected various facets of cyberchondria, with cyberchondria-related distress and compulsion increasing and the reassurance facet of cyberchondria decreasing. COVID-19-related fears and health anxiety emerged as the strongest predictors of cyberchondria-related distress and interference with functioning during the pandemic.
JMIR FORMATIVE RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Zsolt Horvath, Lena Nagy, Monika Koos, Shane W. Kraus, Zsolt Demetrovics, Marc N. Potenza, Rafael Ballester-Arnal, Dominik Batthyany, Sophie Bergeron, Joel Billieux, Peer Briken, Julius Burkauskas, Georgina Cardenas-Lopez, Joana Carvalho, Jesus Castro-Calvo, Lijun Chen, Giacomo Ciocca, Ornella Corazza, Rita Csako, David P. Fernandez, Hironobu Fujiwara, Elaine F. Fernandez, Johannes Fuss, Roman Gabrhelik, Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan, Biljana Gjoneska, Mateusz Gola, Joshua B. Grubbs, Hashim T. Hashim, Md. Saiful Islam, Mustafa Ismail, C. Martha Jimenez-Martinez, Tanja Jurin, Ondrej Kalina, Verena Klein, Andras Kolto, Sang-Kyu Lee, Karol Lewczuk, Chung-Ying Lin, Christine Lochner, Silvia Lopez-Alvarado, Katerina Lukavska, Percy Mayta-Tristan, Dan J. Miller, Olga Orosova, Gabor Orosz, Mami Sungkyunkwan Univ res team, Fernando P. Ponce, Gonzalo R. Quintana, Gabriel C. Quintero Garzola, Jano Ramos-Diaz, Kevin Rigaud, Ann Rousseau, Marco De Tubino Scanavino, Marion K. Schulmeyer, Pratap Sharan, Mami Shibata, Sheikh Shoib, Vera Sigre-Leiros, Luke Sniewski, Ognen Spasovski, Vesta Steibliene, Dan J. Stein, Julian Strizek, Meng-Che Tsai, Berk C. Unsal, Marie-Pier Vaillancourt-Morel, Marie Claire Van Hout, Beata Bothej
Summary: This study examined different measurement models for the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and its measurement invariance across various subgroups. The results showed that a two-factor model with factors of 'alcohol use' and 'alcohol problems' had the best fit across countries, languages, genders, and sexual orientations. The study also found high levels of measurement invariance for the AUDIT, supporting its use in cross-cultural research and comparisons among genders and sexual orientations.
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Damien Brevers, Chris Baeken, Stefanie De Smet, Beatriz Catoira, Sara De Witte, Qinghua He, Pierre Maurage, Laimi Schulze-Steinen, Guillaume Sescousse, Claudia Vila Verde, Claus Vogele, Joel Billieux
Summary: Brain imaging studies have found that stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) can modulate brain reactivity to reward-related cues. However, the impact of contextual factors on this modulation effect remains unclear. In this study, researchers tested the effects of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) on brain reactivity to cues signaling reward availability or unavailability. The results showed that HF-rTMS modulated brain activity in response to game cues, with increases in posterior insula and caudate nucleus activation and a decrease in occipital pole activation. HF-rTMS also increased ventral striatal activity for cues available for betting but had no effect on cues unavailable for betting.
Letter
Clinical Neurology
Juan Carlos Hugues, Abel Nogueira-Lopeza, Maeva Flayellea, Cora von Hammersteind, Joel Billieuxa
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Chih-Ting Lee, Chung-Ying Lin, Monika Koos, Lena Nagy, Shane W. Kraus, Zsolt Demetrovics, Marc N. Potenza, Rafael Ballester-Arnal, Dominik Batthyany, Sophie Bergeron, Joel Billieux, Julius Burkauskas, Georgina Cardenas-Lopez, Joana Carvalho, Jesus Castro-Calvo, Lijun Chen, Giacomo Ciocca, Ornella Corazza, Rita I. Csako, David P. Fernandez, Elaine F. Fernandez, Hironobu Fujiwara, Johannes Fuss, Roman Gabrhelik, Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan, Biljana Gjoneska, Mateusz Gola, Joshua B. Grubbs, Hashim T. Hashim, Md. Saiful Islam, Mustafa Ismail, Martha Jimenez-Martinez, Tanja Jurin, Ondrej Kalina, Verena Klein, Andras Kolto, Sang-Kyu Lee, Karol Lewczuk, Christine Lochner, Silvia Lopez-Alvarado, Katerina Lukavska, Percy Mayta-Tristan, Ionut Milea, Dan J. Miller, Olga Orosova, Gabor Orosz, Fernando P. Sungkyunkwan Univ Res Team, Fernando P. Ponce, Gonzalo R. Quintana, Gabriel C. Quintero Garzola, Jano Ramos-Diaz, Kevin Rigaud, Ann Rousseau, Marco De Tubino Scanavino, Marion K. Schulmeyer, Pratap Sharan, Mami Shibata, Sheikh Shoib, Vera Sigre-Leiros, Luke Sniewski, Ognen Spasovski, Vesta Steibliene, Dan J. Stein, Julian Strizek, Berk C. Unsal, Marie-Pier Vaillancourt-Morel, Marie Claire Van Hout, Beata Bothe
Summary: The study validated a shortened 11-item ASSIST questionnaire (ASSIST-11), indicating that it has a unidimensional factor structure across different languages, countries, age groups, genders, and sexual orientations. The ASSIST-11 showed acceptable internal consistency and known-group validity.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Abel Nogueira-Lopez, Antonio Rial-Boubeta, Ignacio Guadix-Garcia, Victor J. Villanueva-Blasco, Joel Billieux
Summary: Epidemiological studies on problematic Internet use and gaming have mainly relied on unrepresentative and self-selected convenience samples, leading to unreliable prevalence rates. This study examined a large sample of Spanish adolescents and found a prevalence of 33% for problematic Internet use and 3.1% for problematic gaming using the DSM-5 approach. However, using the more conservative ICD-11 approach, prevalence rates decreased to 2.98% for problematic Internet use and 1.8% for problematic gaming. Gender, parental education, Internet connection time, online behavior after midnight, and mobile phone use in class were identified as risk factors for both behaviors.
PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Cora von Hammerstein, Joel Billieux
Summary: Chemsex refers to the intentional use of substances in sexualized settings among men who have sex with men. It is a growing public health issue with estimated prevalence rates of 3% to 29% in this population. Chemsex poses risks such as HIV and STI exposure, addiction, cardiovascular problems, and mental health issues. However, there is a research gap in this area, and existing theoretical concepts and therapeutic strategies for addictions and risky sexual behaviors may not be applicable to chemsex due to its unique characteristics and impact on stigmatized minorities.
ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS
(2024)