The early stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic's Psychological Footprint: A Study on the Surge of Mental Health Concerns in Chinaas Reflected by Baidu Index

Nana Meng; Yuan Chen; Danna Zhao; Dingtao Hu

doi:10.71321/62xm7s05

Authors

Nana Meng Department of Quality Management Office, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Yuan Chen University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
Danna Zhao Department of Quality Management Office, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Dingtao Hu Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.71321/62xm7s05

Keywords:

COVID-19, Mental illness, Psychological stress, Baidu index

Abstract

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has posed an enormous threat to the health of people worldwide, both physically and mentally. We aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on Chinese people’s mental health via the Baidu Index, especially during the early period of the outbreak.
Methods: We collected people’s search data regarding mental illness and COVID-19 from the Baidu index. Spearman’s correlation analysis was applied to explore the correlations among mental illness search index values, COVID-19 search index values, and the number of confirmed cases in China. We implemented a dynamic series analysis to show the changing trend of Baidu index search values. Gender, age, and regional distribution of search values were also observed. Internet searches for mental illness increased significantly after the quarantine measures were implemented.
Results: The number of COVID-19 cases were positively correlated to the overall search index values for mental illnesses (rs=0.766, p=1.041×10-12), and negatively correlated to search index values for COVID-19 (rs=-0.236, p=0.023). The searches for COVID-19 was positively correlated to the daily growth of cases (rs=0.861, p=2.310×10-18). No lag pattern exists between Internet searches for mental illness and the number of confirmed cases. Male and people over 50 years old searched less than other groups. Besides, the highest search behaviors appeared in southeastern China. Public search behaviors indicate that since the outbreak of COVID-19, the psychological problems of the Chinese people have been extremely prominent.
Conclusion: Baidu Index offers a valuable tool for guiding effective intervention and prevention efforts aimed at mitigating psychological stress. Its ability to reflect public search behaviors allows for the timely provision of mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic and could serve as a model for responding to the mental health challenges posed by future large-scale infectious disease outbreaks.

References

[1] Holmes EA, O'Connor RC, Perry VH, Tracey I, Wessely S, Arseneault L, et al. Multidisciplinary research priorities for the covid-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 2020/6/1;7(6):547-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1.

[2] Hu D, Lou X, Xu Z, Meng N, Xie Q, Zhang M, et al. More effective strategies are required to strengthen public awareness of COVID-19: Evidence from Google Trends. J Glob Health. 2020 Jun;10(1):011003. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.10.011003

[3] Mo P, Xing Y, Xiao Y, Deng L, Zhao Q, Wang H, et al. Clinical characteristics of refractory coronavirus disease 2019 in wuhan, china. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 2021/12/6;73(11):e4208-13. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa270.

[4] Hong H, Wang Y, Chung HT, Chen CJ. Clinical characteristics of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) in newborns, infants and children. Pediatr Neonatol. 2020 2020/4/1;61(2):131-2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedneo.2020.03.001.

[5] Barnett P, Arundell LL, Saunders R, Matthews H, Pilling S. The efficacy of psychological interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders in university students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2021 Feb 1;280(Pt A):381-406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.10.060

[6] Woo H, Cho Y, Shim E, Lee JK, Lee CG, Kim SH. Estimating influenza outbreaks using both search engine query data and social media data in south korea. J Med Internet Res. 2016 2016/7/4;18(7):e177. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4955.

[7] Cervellin G, Comelli I, Lippi G. Is google trends a reliable tool for digital epidemiology? Insights from different clinical settings. J Epidemiol Glob Health. 2017 2017/9/1;7(3):185-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jegh.2017.06.001.

[8] Ginsberg J, Mohebbi MH, Patel RS, Brammer L, Smolinski MS, Brilliant L. Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data. Nature. 2009 2009/2/19;457(7232):1012-4. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07634.

[9] Wang, M., Lu, X., Du, Y., Liu, Z., Li, X., Zhao, X., et al. (2025). Digital health governance in China by a whole-of-society approach. NPJ digital medicine, 8(1), 496. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01876-9.

[10] Li K, Liu M, Feng Y, Ning C, Ou W, Sun J, et al. Using baidu search engine to monitor aids epidemics inform for targeted intervention of hiv/aids in china. Sci Rep. 2019 2019/1/23;9(1):320. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35685-w.

[11] Li Z, Liu T, Zhu G, Lin H, Zhang Y, He J, et al. Dengue baidu search index data can improve the prediction of local dengue epidemic: a case study in guangzhou, china. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 2017/3/1;11(3):e5354. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005354.

[12] Xie T, Yang Z, Yang S, Wu N, Li L. Correlation between reported human infection with avian influenza A H7N9 virus and cyber user awareness: what can we learn from digital epidemiology?. International journal of infectious diseases: IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, 22, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2013.11.013.

[13] Brooks SK, Webster RK, Smith LE, Woodland L, Wessely S, Greenberg N, et al. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. Lancet. 2020 2020/3/14;395(10227):912-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8.

[14] Kraemer M, Reiner RJ, Brady OJ, Messina JP, Gilbert M, Pigott DM, et al. Past and future spread of the arbovirus vectors aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus. Nat Microbiol. 2019 2019/5/1;4(5):854-63. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0376-y.

[15] Zhao YC, Zhao M, Song S. Online Health Information Seeking Among Patients With Chronic Conditions: Integrating the Health Belief Model and Social Support Theory. J Med Internet Res. 2022 Nov 2;24(11):e42447. doi: 10.2196/42447. PMID: 36322124; PMCID: PMC9669891.

[16] National health commission of the people’s republic of china. https://www.nhc.gov.cn/.

[17] Montagni I, Parizot I, Horgan A, Gonzalez-Caballero JL, Almenara-Barrios J, Lagares-Franco C, et al. Spanish students' use of the internet for mental health information and support seeking. Health Informatics J. 2016 2016/6/1;22(2):333-54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458214556908.

[18] Avis NE, Crawford SL, Greendale G, Bromberger JT, Everson-Rose SA, Gold EB, et al. Duration of menopausal vasomotor symptoms over the menopause transition. JAMA Intern Med. 2015 2015/4/1;175(4):531-9. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8063.

[19] Grogans SE, Bliss-Moreau E, Buss KA, Clark LA, Fox AS, Keltner D, et al. The nature and neurobiology of fear and anxiety: State of the science and opportunities for accelerating discovery. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2023 Aug;151:105237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105237.

[20] Lu YC, Shu BC, Chang YY, Lung FW. The mental health of hospital workers dealing with severe acute respiratory syndrome. Psychother Psychosom. 2006 2006/1/20;75(6):370-5. https://doi.org/10.1159/000095443.

[21] Dutta A, Sharma A, Torres-Castro R, Pachori H, Mishra S. Mental health outcomes among health-care workers dealing with covid-19/severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Indian J Psychiatry. 2021 2021/7/1;63(4):335-47. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_1029_20.

[22] Xiang YT, Yang Y, Li W, Zhang L, Zhang Q, Cheung T, et al. Timely mental health care for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is urgently needed. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 2020/3/1;7(3):228-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30046-8.

[23] Xiao C. A novel approach of consultation on 2019 novel coronavirus (covid-19)-related psychological and mental problems: structured letter therapy. Psychiatry Investig. 2020 2020/2/1;17(2):175-6. https://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2020.0047.

[24] Oliver MI, Pearson N, Coe N, Gunnell D. Help-seeking behaviour in men and women with common mental health problems: cross-sectional study. Br J Psychiatry. 2005 2005/4/1;186:297-301. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.186.4.297.

[25] Chen B, Liu F, Ding S, Ying X, Wang L, Wen Y. Gender differences in factors associated with smartphone addiction: a cross-sectional study among medical college students. BMC Psychiatry. 2017 2017/10/10;17(1):341. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1503-z.

[26] Wei JM, Li S, Claytor L, Partridge J, Goates S. Prevalence and predictors of malnutrition in elderly chinese adults: results from the china health and retirement longitudinal study. Public Health Nutr. 2018 2018/12/1;21(17):3129-34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018002227.

[27] Xu C, Wang Y, Yang H, Hou J, Sun L, Zhang X, et al. Association between cancer incidence and mortality in web-based data in china: infodemiology study. J Med Internet Res. 2019 2019/1/29;21(1):e10677. https://doi.org/10.2196/10677.