Basic characteristics of respondents
The typical respondent was middle aged (49.2%) with university education (50.8%) and middle income (45.7%), however with rather large differences between the three countries. In all countries, men and women were similarly represented with a slightly younger population in Norway (mean age of 46.98 years) compared to Sweden (49.25 years) and the Netherlands (48.85 years, p < 0.001, table 1). Furthermore, level of education and income varied between the countries with highest income and education in the Norwegian population (p < 0.001, table 1).
Table 1. Basic characteristics of the respondents
|
All respondents
|
Norway
|
Sweden
|
the Netherlands
|
|
|
%
|
(n = 2,494)
|
%
|
(n = 990)
|
%
|
(n = 500)
|
%
|
(n = 1,004)
|
p-value*
|
Gender
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Men
|
50.3
|
(1255)
|
51.9
|
(514)
|
49.2
|
(246)
|
49.3
|
(495)
|
0.432
|
Women
|
49.7
|
(1239)
|
48.1
|
(476)
|
50.8
|
(254)
|
50.7
|
(509)
|
|
Age
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mean age
(SD)
|
48.19 (2,494)
(18.262)
|
46.98 (990)
(18.403)
|
49.25 (500)
(20.176)
|
48.85 (1,004)
(17.030)
|
< 0.001
|
18–29 years
|
20.3
|
(507)
|
22.7
|
(225)
|
21.2
|
(106)
|
17.5
|
(176)
|
0.003
|
30–59 years
|
49.2
|
(1227)
|
50.5
|
(500)
|
45.6
|
(228)
|
49.7
|
(499)
|
|
≥ 60 years
|
30.5
|
(760)
|
26.8
|
(265)
|
33.2
|
(166)
|
32.8
|
(329)
|
|
Household income1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
< 0.001
|
Low
|
18.0
|
(349)
|
13.3
|
(105)
|
18.8
|
(94)
|
14.9
|
(150)
|
|
Middle
|
45.7
|
(887)
|
33.8
|
(268)
|
24.0
|
(120)
|
49.7
|
(499)
|
|
High
|
36.4
|
(707)
|
52.9
|
(419)
|
28.4
|
(142)
|
14.5
|
(146)
|
|
Do not want to answer
|
11.8
|
(294)
|
6.2
|
(61)
|
4.8
|
(24)
|
20.8
|
(209)
|
|
Do not know
|
10.3
|
(257)
|
13.8
|
137)
|
24.0
|
(120)
|
0.0
|
(0)
|
|
Years of Education
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
< 0.001
|
Primary school
|
13.0
|
(325)
|
9.5
|
(94)
|
12.8
|
(64)
|
16.6
|
(167)
|
|
Secondary school
|
36.1
|
(901)
|
36.1
|
(357)
|
41.6
|
(208)
|
33.5
|
(336)
|
|
College/university
|
50.8
|
(1268)
|
54.4
|
(539)
|
45.6
|
(228)
|
49.9
|
(501)
|
|
*Pearson chi-square test; 1 Low (< NOK400,000 in Norway, <SEK300,000 in Sweden, and < EUR 25,000 in the Netherlands), middle (NOK 400,000-799,000 in Norway, SEK 300,000-599,000 in Sweden, and EUR 25,000–74,999 in the Netherlands), and high (≥ NOK 800,000 in Norway, ≥ SEK 600,000 in Sweden, and ≥ EUR 75,000 in the Netherlands). |
Consultations with health care providers
As shown in Table 2, almost half of the respondents (45.1%) had seen a health care provider during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, 51.2% in Norway, 42.8% in Sweden and 40.3% in the Netherlands (p < 0.001). Most of the respondents had seen a medical doctor (36.8%), a massage therapist (4.9%), or a chiropractor (2.9%).
Consultations with health care providers for prevention and treatment of COVID-19
Hardly any of the respondents (1.2%) had seen health care providers for the purpose of preventing COVID-19. Similar low numbers were found in Norway (1.7%), Sweden (1.6%) and in the Netherlands (0.6%, p = 0.057). The few who sought help from providers for this purpose mainly saw a medical doctor (0.9%, Table 2). Very few sought also help from health care providers to treat COVID-19-related symptoms (1.0%). Those who did saw a medical doctor.
Table 2. Consultations with health care providers during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic
Use of self-management strategies
Natural remedies, vitamins, minerals and dietary supplements
The majority of the respondents (62.8%) used natural remedies, vitamins, minerals or dietary supplements during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, 72.8% in Norway, 50.0% in Sweden and 59.4% in the Netherlands (p < 0.001). As shown in Table 3, vitamins and mineral (49.9%), and dietary supplements (29.2%) were most frequently used, in particular omega 3, 6 or 9 (22.2%), vitamin D (21.2%), multivitamin tablets (17.5%), vitamin C (15.7%), and magnesium (11.4%).
Table 3. Use of natural remedies, vitamins, minerals and dietary supplements during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic
Practice of self-help techniques
Self-help techniques were used by 30.3% of the respondents during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, 27.4% in Norway, 33.2% in Sweden and 31.7% in the Netherlands (p = 0.032). As shown in Table 4, yoga (11.4%), meditation/mindfulness (11.0%), and relaxation techniques (8.6%) were the most used techniques across all countries in Norway and the Netherlands while breathing therapy was most used in Sweden (13.0%).
Table 4. Practice of self-help techniques during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic
Use of self-management strategies for prevention or treatment of COVID-19
Despite rather high use of dietary supplements (including natural remedies, vitamins and minerals), and self-help techniques, few respondents used this specifically for prevention (4.4%) or treatment (0.4%) of COVID-19. When used for prevention, vitamins and minerals were most used (2.8%), with vitamin C (1.7%) being most frequently used followed by vitamin D (0.9%), and multivitamins (0.5%, Table 3). Most use of vitamins and minerals for prevention of COVID-19 was found in the Netherlands (4.1%), followed by Sweden (3.2%) and Norway (1.2%, Table 3, p < 0.001). Also prayer was to some extent used for prevention (0.5%).
Only nine respondents had used self-management strategies to treat COVID-19 related symptoms. The strategies they used were: Vitamin C (n = 3), prayer for own health (n = 3), vitamin D (n = 2), Omega 3, 6, 9 fatty acids (n = 2), relaxation exercise (n = 2), unspecified vitamins and minerals (n = 2), ginger (n = 1), garlic (n = 1), ginkgo biloba (n = 1), magnesium (n = 1), zinc (n = 1), breathing exercise (n = 1), unspecified herb (n = 1), and unspecified self-help technique (n = 1, Tables 3 and 4). These respondents (n = 9) were equally distributed between the three countries with 2 from Norway, 4 from Sweden and 3 from the Netherlands (Tables 3 and 4, p = 0.941) and had used a mean of 2.4 therapies each to treat COVID-19.
Worries of being infected by the COVID-19 disease
The worry of being infected with COVID-19 varied greatly across the three countries studied (Table 5, p < 001). While most respondents from Norway and Sweden reported no worries about being infected by COVID-19 themselves (66% and 57% respectively), only 38.8% in the Netherlands felt the same way. They were more likely to be somewhat worried (42%). Few across all countries (15.4%) were very worried of being infected ranging from 11.2–19.1% between the countries (Table 5). When it came to worries for loved ones, people were in general somewhat (34.8%) or very (43.2%) worried. While half of the respondents in Norway and Sweden were very worried, respondents in the Netherlands were most likely to be somewhat worried (47%) that loved ones could be infected with COVID-19 (Table 5).
Table 5. Worries about being infected by the COVID-19 disease
Consultations with health care providers and use of self-management strategies for prevention related to worries about COVID-19
The users of health care providers and self-management strategies for prevention of COVID-19 were more likely to be very worried (24.4%) of being infected by COVID-19 than respondents who did not use this for prevention (14.4%, p = 0.008, Table 6). This was also the tendency regarding worries for loved ones and the impression that COVID-19 is more dangerous than ordinary influenza, however, not at a significant level (p = 0.092 and p = 0.686 respectively, Table 6).
Table 6. Consultations with health care providers and use of self-management strategies for prevention of COVID-19 related to worries about COVID-19
|
Consultations with health care providers and use of self-management strategies to prevent COVID-19
|
|
Yes
|
No
|
p-value*
|
|
% (n)
|
% (n)
|
|
How worried are you of getting infected with the virus causing COVID-19
|
|
|
0.008
|
Not worried
|
44.4 (60)
|
53.7 (1260)
|
|
Somewhat worried
|
31.1 (42)
|
31.4 (736)
|
|
Very worried
|
24.4 (33)
|
14.4 (350)
|
|
How worried are you that some of your friends and family could get infected with the virus causing COVID-19
|
|
|
0.092
|
Not worried
|
18.4 (25)
|
22.3 (522)
|
|
Somewhat worried
|
29.4 (40)
|
35.1 (822)
|
|
Very worried
|
52.2 (71)
|
42.7 (1000)
|
|
COVID-19 is more dangerous than an ordinary influenza
|
|
|
0.686
|
No more dangerous
|
6.1 (8)
|
5.2 (120)
|
|
Somewhat more dangerous
|
13.7 (18)
|
16.3 (378)
|
|
Much more dangerous
|
80.2 (105)
|
78.5 (1819)
|
|
*Pearson chi-square test
|
|
|
|