Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2020Conspiracy Theories as Barriers to Controlling the Spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.
This article uses national probability survey data of U.S. adults to assess the relationship between …
This article uses national probability survey data of U.S. adults to assess the relationship between belief in three COVID-19-related conspiracy theories to adoption of preventive measures recommended by public health authorities, vaccination intentions, conspiracy beliefs, perceptions of threat, belief about the safety of vaccines, political ideology, and media exposure patterns. Authors found that conspiracy theory beliefs were highly stable across two periods of the survey and inversely related to the (1) perceived threat of the…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Decision Psychology | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Culture/Society | Government/Law | North America -
ArticlePublication 2021Anti-Vaccination Infodemic on Social Media: A Behavioral Analysis
Vaccinations are without doubt one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, and there is …
Vaccinations are without doubt one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, and there is hope that they can constitute a solution to halt the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the anti-vaccination movement is currently on the rise, spreading online misinformation about vaccine safety and causing a worrying reduction in vaccination rates worldwide. In this historical time, it is imperative to understand the reasons of vaccine hesitancy, and to find effective strategies to dismantle the rhetoric…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Culture/Society | Government/Law | North America -
ToolInteractive 2020COVID-19 Antibody Tests: Calculator for Interpreting Test Results
Antibody testing can determine previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. This interactive calculator, linked to the article …
Antibody testing can determine previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. This interactive calculator, linked to the article below* on antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 virus, allows users to vary the prior probability of infection, the sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing, and the specificity of SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing. Key points made in the article accompanying the interactive include: (1) antibody testing is likely to be most useful 2 weeks after infection, (2) sensitivity and specificity will vary over time and…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Technology Assessment | Clinical Care -
EditorialPublication 2020Waiting for Certainty on COVID-19 Antibody Tests — At What Cost?
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation …
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation policy to reduce COVID-19 transmission. For example: Could we screen for serologic antibodies as a proxy for possible immunity and identify people who could return to the workplace with less severe mitigation measures? The authors acknowledge the uncertainties raised by many policy actors, including the WHO, such as, "Do antibodies confer immunity and, if so, for how long? How accurate is…
Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Technology Assessment | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Global | North America -
ArticlePublication 2020Economic Evaluation of HBV Birth Dose Vaccination
This article, published in Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, examines the cost-effectiveness of a birth …
This article, published in Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, examines the cost-effectiveness of a birth dose of HBV vaccine in a medical setting in Ethiopia. The authors construct a decision analytic model with a Markov process to estimate the costs and effects of a birth dose of HBV vaccine, compared with current practices in Ethiopia. Based on the cost-effectiveness findings, introducing a birth dose of HBV vaccine in Ethiopia would likely be highly cost-effective. Such…
Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ArticlePublication 2020New Fronts in the War on Misinformation
The countless false claims that have spread alongside the novel coronavirus – inaccurate advice about …
The countless false claims that have spread alongside the novel coronavirus – inaccurate advice about how to prevent the virus, for example, and conspiracy theories about its origins – are just the latest manifestation of an ongoing problem: the online proliferation of misinformation about science and health. The National Academies hosted and helped organize three events focused on countering misinformation: The MisinfoCon conference, a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, and a meeting to explore ways to expand successful…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Decision Psychology | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Culture/Society | Education/Labor | Government/Law | North America -
Tools/ModelsInteractive, Teaching Resource 2020Interactive Graphic: Interpreting a COVID-19 Test Result
Currently, the most common diagnostic test for COVID-19 relies on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction …
Currently, the most common diagnostic test for COVID-19 relies on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and most often uses samples obtained from the respiratory tract by nasopharyngeal swab. This interactive graphic demonstrates the influence of the prior probability of COVID-19, the test sensitivity (i.e., the probability of a positive test conditional on disease presence), and the test specificity (i.e., the probability of a negative test conditional on disease absence) on the post-test probability of…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Clinical Care | High School | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Graphics/Visualization | Quantitative Literacy -
ArticlePublication 2020Interpreting COVID-19 Test Results: A Bayesian Approach
This article considers the following question with respect to interpreting the results of polymerase chain reaction …
This article considers the following question with respect to interpreting the results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays from nasal and pharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 to inform clinical decision making: "While a positive result in an acutely ill patient is straightforward, how should physicians interpret negative tests in patients with suspected COVID-19 infection?" Using an assumption of near-perfect specificity of PCR assays for COVID-19, the authors acknowledge the uncertainty of test sensitivity. They consider two clinical scenarios…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Global -
ArticlePublication 2020Financial Burden of HIV and TB
This article, published in BMJ Open, aims to estimate the household economic burden and incidence …
This article, published in BMJ Open, aims to estimate the household economic burden and incidence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) incurred as a result of HIV and TB care across income quintiles in Ethiopia. The economic burden of HIV and TB care is estimated looking at direct and indirect costs, whereas the incidence of CHE is determined using direct costs that exceed 10% of the household income threshold. HIV and TB are found to cause…
Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Sub-Saharan Africa