Background In case of a population-wide infectious disease outbreak, such as the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), people’s online activities could significantly affect public concerns and health behaviors due to difficulty in accessing credible information from reliable sources, which in turn causes people to seek necessary information on the web. Therefore, measuring and analyzing online health communication and public sentiment is essential for establishing effective and efficient disease control policies, especially in the early stage of an outbreak. Objective This study aimed to investigate the trends of online health communication, analyze the focus of people’s anxiety in the early stages of COVID-19, and evaluate the appropriateness of online information. Methods We collected 13,148 questions and 29,040 answers related to COVID-19 from Naver, the most popular Korean web portal (January 20, 2020, to March 2, 2020). Three main methods were used in this study: (1) the structural topic model was used to examine the topics in the online questions; (2) word network analysis was conducted to analyze the focus of people’s anxiety and worry in the questions; and (3) two medical doctors assessed the appropriateness of the answers to the questions, which were primarily related to people’s anxiety. Results A total of 50 topics and 6 cohesive topic communities were identified from the questions. Among them, topic community 4 (suspecting COVID-19 infection after developing a particular symptom) accounted for the largest portion of the questions. As the number of confirmed patients increased, the proportion of topics belonging to topic community 4 also increased. Additionally, the prolonged situation led to a slight increase in the proportion of topics related to job issues. People’s anxieties and worries were closely related with physical symptoms and self-protection methods. Although relatively appropriate to suspect physical symptoms, a high proportion of answers related to self-protection methods were assessed as misinformation or advertisements. Conclusions Search activity for online information regarding the COVID-19 outbreak has been active. Many of the online questions were related to people’s anxieties and worries. A considerable portion of corresponding answers had false information or were advertisements. The study results could contribute reference information to various countries that need to monitor public anxiety and provide appropriate information in the early stage of an infectious disease outbreak, including COVID-19. Our research also contributes to developing methods for measuring public opinion and sentiment in an epidemic situation based on natural language data on the internet.

Background: Lung cancer screening for high-risk population using low-dose computed tomography is a valid strategy to reduce lung cancer mortality. This study investigated public opinions toward the initiation and participation in the National Lung Cancer Screening Program (NLCSP) launched in Korea.Methods: In this cross-sectional analysis of the 2018 Korean National Cancer Screening Survey, we analyzed the responses related to lung cancer screening. Eligible participants for NLCSP are aged 55-74 years with at least 30 pack-years of smoking history. We compared public opinions on implementing lung cancer screening according to smoking status and eligibility for NLCSP.Results: Among 3,495 respondents, 205 (5.9%) were eligible for screening. Most of the respondents (71.2%) agreed with implementing NLCSP. Agreement rates were relatively lower in never smokers (66.2%) and higher in former (80.8%) and current smokers (82.3%). Factors associated with agreement included the presence of private health insurance [odds ratio (OR) 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-1.78], regular health checkup (OR 2.10, 95% CI, 1.72-2.57), and smoking history (former, OR 1.66, 95% CI, 1.09-2.55; current, OR 1.97, 95% CI, 1.45-2.67). Preference of the screening facilities showed that quality was considered more important than accessibility (46.9% vs. 31.9%). Furthermore, people were more affirmative (75.5%) towards receiving mandatory smoking cessation counseling included in NLCSP.Conclusions: Public agreement and active participation of the eligible population are key factors in the successful implementation of NLCSP. Our data would be a valuable resource in building appropriate strategies to maximize the benefits of nationwide lung cancer screening.

Background We aimed to investigate the factors associated with neurological manifestations of post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) conditions. Methods We retrospectively collected data from 440 patients who visited our post-COVID-19 clinic more than 4 weeks after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. We analyzed the prevalence of different neurological symptoms (brain fog, memory impairment, headache, and dizziness) and assessed the associated factors. Results Brain fog was the most common symptom, observed in 170 patients (38.6%), followed by headaches (n = 137, 31.1%), dizziness (n = 128, 29%), and memory impairment (n = 104, 23.6%). Brain fog was associated with hyposmia or hypogeusia (odds ratio [OR], 2.54; P < 0.001), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) (OR, 1.06; P < 0.001), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety (OR, 1.09; P = 0.037). Memory impairment was associated with sleep problems (OR, 2.83; P < 0.001), FSS (OR, 1.05; P < 0.001), and age (OR, 1.02; P = 0.015). Headache was associated with sleep problems (OR, 2.28; P = 0.001), sex (OR, 1.68; P = 0.042), and FSS (OR, 1.04; P < 0.001). Dizziness was associated with sleep problems (OR, 2.88; P < 0.001), and FSS (OR, 1.04; P < 0.001). The incidence of brain fog ( P < 0.001), memory impairment ( P < 0.001), dizziness ( P = 0.007), and headache ( P = 0.045) accompanied by hyposmia and hypogeusia was higher in patients with the aforementioned symptoms than in those without. Conclusion This study suggests that there is a relationship between neurological symptoms and other clinical factors, such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, hyposmia, and hypogeusia.

It remains inconclusive whether the use of oral contraceptives (OCs) alters the risks of breast or ovarian cancer in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. We investigated the association between OC use and the risks of breast or ovarian cancer in this group by using a meta-analysis. PubMed and EMBASE were searched using keywords until February 2021 to identify relevant studies that evaluated the association between OC ever use and the risks of breast or ovarian cancer in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. Twelve studies for breast cancer and eight studies for ovarian cancer were identified. In the random-effects meta-analysis, the ever use of OCs was significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer [odds ratio (OR), relative risk (RR), or hazard ration (HR) = 1.24; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08 – 1.41] and a decreased risk of ovarian cancer (OR/RR/HR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.41 – 0.67). Consistent findings were observed, when BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers were analyzed separately. The increased risk of breast cancer was observed only in the long-term (&gt;5 years) users of OCs, while the decrease risk of ovarian cancer was observed regardless of the duration of OC use. The current study suggests that the ever use of OCs in BRCA mutation carriers is significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and a decreased risk of ovarian cancer. Therefore, the use of OCs as chemoprevention of ovarian cancer should be cautious in BRCA mutation carriers.