Background: Individuals with large followings can influence public opinions and behaviors, especially during a pandemic. In the early days of the pandemic, US president Donald J Trump has endorsed the use of unproven therapies. Subsequently, a death attributed to the wrongful ingestion of a chloroquine-containing compound occurred. Objective: We investigated Donald J Trump’s speeches and Twitter posts, as well as Google searches and Amazon purchases, and television airtime for mentions of hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, azithromycin, and remdesivir. Methods: Twitter sourcing was catalogued with Factba.se, and analytics data, both past and present, were analyzed with Tweet Binder to assess average analytics data on key metrics. Donald J Trump’s time spent discussing unverified treatments on the United States’ 5 largest TV stations was catalogued with the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone, and his speech transcripts were obtained from White House briefings. Google searches and shopping trends were analyzed with Google Trends. Amazon purchases were assessed using Helium 10 software. Results: From March 1 to April 30, 2020, Donald J Trump made 11 tweets about unproven therapies and mentioned these therapies 65 times in White House briefings, especially touting hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. These tweets had an impression reach of 300% above Donald J Trump’s average. Following these tweets, at least 2% of airtime on conservative networks for treatment modalities like azithromycin and continuous mentions of such treatments were observed on stations like Fox News. Google searches and purchases increased following his first press conference on March 19, 2020, and increased again following his tweets on March 21, 2020. The same is true for medications on Amazon, with purchases for medicine substitutes, such as hydroxychloroquine, increasing by 200%. Conclusions: Individuals in positions of power can sway public purchasing, resulting in undesired effects when the individuals’ claims are unverified. Public health officials must work to dissuade the use of unproven treatments for COVID-19.

This is the abstract only. Read the full article on the JMIR site. JMIR is the leading open access journal for eHealth and healthcare in the Internet age.

中文翻译：

---

特朗普推广未经证实的COVID-19治疗和随后的互联网趋势的影响：观察性研究

背景：拥有大量追随者的个人会影响公众舆论和行为，尤其是在大流行期间。在大流行初期，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald J Trump）赞同使用未经证实的疗法。随后，发生了归因于错误摄入含氯喹化合物的死亡。目的：我们调查了唐纳德·J·特朗普的演讲和Twitter帖子，以及Google搜索和亚马逊购买以及电视播音中提到的羟氯喹，氯喹，阿奇霉素和瑞姆昔韦的信息。方法：使用Factba.se对Twitter采购进行分类，并使用Tweet Binder分析过去和现在的分析数据，以评估关键指标的平均分析数据。唐纳德·J·特朗普（Donald J Trump）在美国5个最大的电视台上讨论未经验证的治疗方法所花费的时间已在全球事件，语言和语气数据库中进行了编目，他的演讲稿来自白宫简报。使用Google趋势分析了Google搜索和购物趋势。使用Helium 10软件评估了亚马逊的购买情况。结果：从2020年3月1日至2020年4月30日，唐纳德·J·特朗普发表了11条关于未经证实的疗法的推文，并在白宫简报中65次提及这些疗法，特别是吹捧羟氯喹和氯喹。这些推文的印象范围比唐纳德·J·特朗普的平均水平高300％。按照这些推文，在保守网络上，至少有2％的广播时间用于阿奇霉素等治疗方式，并且在诸如Fox News之类的电台上不断提及此类治疗。自2020年3月19日第一次新闻发布会以来，Google的搜索和购买量增加了，而在2020年3月21日他的推文之后，谷歌的搜索和购买量又增加了。亚马逊上的药品也是如此，羟基代喹啉等药物替代品的购买量增加了200 ％。结论：掌权的个人可以影响公共购买，当个人的主张未经证实时，会产生不良影响。公共卫生官员必须努力劝阻COVID-19使用未经证实的治疗方法。并在2020年3月21日发布推文后再次增加。亚马逊上的药品也是如此，对羟氯喹等药物替代品的购买量增加了200％。结论：掌权的个人可以影响公共购买，当个人的主张未经证实时，会产生不良影响。公共卫生官员必须努力劝阻COVID-19使用未经证实的治疗方法。并在2020年3月21日发布推文后再次增加。亚马逊上的药品也是如此，对羟氯喹等药物替代品的购买量增加了200％。结论：掌权的个人可以影响公共购买，当个人的主张未经证实时，会产生不良影响。公共卫生官员必须努力劝阻COVID-19使用未经证实的治疗方法。

这仅仅是抽象的。阅读JMIR网站上的全文。JMIR是互联网时代电子健康和医疗保健领域领先的开放获取期刊。