Sexual and reproductive health consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria: an infodemiological survey

The present study analyzed the internet search behavior of common sexual and reproductive health conditions (such as sex, porn, rape, contraceptive, abortion, sexually transmitted infections, STI, erectile dysfunction, and ED) and their associations with COVID-19. This infodemiological survey employed Google Trends to analyze the internet search behavior of selected sexual and reproductive health conditions in Nigeria from October 1, 2018, to August 1, 2021, which was divided into the pre-COVID and COVID periods on March 1, 2020. The extracted data included search volume index (SVIs) for the top queried state, most populated state, rising queries, and top queries. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the mean SVIs for the pre-COVID and COVID periods, while Spearman's rank-order correlation was conducted to determine the association between the sexual and reproductive health indices and COVID-19 using the SPSS statistical package. P-values < 0.05 were considered significant. The online interest in terms such as "how to rape", "postinor", "what is sti", "meaning of sti", "what is erectile dysfunction", and "erectile dysfunction treatment" increased during the COVID pandemic compared to the pre-COVID period. Also, the SVIs for rape, contraceptive, abortion, STI, and ED reduced during the pandemic compared to the pre-COVID period. In addition, the SVI for porn increased, while that for sex was unaltered during the pandemic. SVI for COVID was positively correlated with porn but negatively correlated with rape, contraceptive, abortion, STI, and ED. The intent of rape, the need for an emergency contraceptive such as postinor, incident STI and self-diagnosis of STI, and incident ED and self-diagnosis and self-management of STI increased during the pandemic. These findings are associated with increased porn consumption as depicted by a rise in porn SVI. The COVID-19 pandemic considerably influenced internet search behavior related to sexual and reproductive health in Nigeria as shown by an increased interest in certain health queries, such as those related to sexual violence, emergency contraception, and erectile dysfunction, alongside a rise in pornographic content searches. In contrast, there was a decrease in search interest for terms related to contraception, abortion, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). These patterns suggest a complex interplay between increased online engagement with sexual health topics and altered attitudes or behaviors during the pandemic. The findings could inform public health initiatives by highlighting emerging trends and the need for targeted health education and services in the context of evolving sexual and reproductive health concerns during and post-COVID-19.