COVID-19 Infodemic and Depressive Symptoms: the Impact of the Exposure to News about COVID-19 on the General Paraguayan Population

Introduction: : The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase of social stressors and mental health issues in the general population as well as among mentally ill patients. A COVID-19- related "infodemic", including too much information in digital and physical environments, has been recognized globally. Aim: : This study aimed to describe the impact of COVID-19 infodemic (exposure to news related to COVID-19) in terms of depressive symptoms in the Paraguayan general population. Methods: : This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study. An online survey, designed in Google Forms, has been launched nationwide through the most popular social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and messaging applications (WhatsApp, Telegram) in April (1st-30th) 2021. The Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) was employed for detecting depressive symptoms. Results: : The survey included 1102 responders aged 35.4 +/- 12.9 years old, 74.9% were women. MHI-5 mean score was 44.07 +/- 14.16 in the general population with 34.4% (n = 379) of responders suffering from severe symptoms of depression (>52, as cut-off point). 53.5% of sample reported to have been exposed between 1 and 3 h to COVID-19 news, daily. An OR 1.933 (95% CI 1.48 - 2.52) was found between the exposure to news and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: : This study suggests that people exposed to a higher number of hours of COVID-19 news were 93.3% more likely to develop depressive symptoms.