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Abstract Background Web discussions on health issues are becoming very relevant in the general public. In this context, little information is available regarding cardiovascular diseases, which remain the first cause of morbidity, disability and mortality worldwide. The central objective of the study was to conduct a Web listening analysis on discussions about cardiovascular diseases in Italy, comparing the data relative to the 2-year pre-COVID-19 pandemic period with those collected during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (March-July 2020), with quantification of conversations on cardiovascular disease and Web-based discussions and specific evaluation of COVID-19 lockdown impact. Methods A retrospective Web listening analysis using publicly available data was conducted, using validated methods that allow to estimate cardiovascular disease awareness. Digital sources were identified to retrieve data (Italian language), relevant to cardiovascular disease topics. Data were analysed by Google Trends methodology and the Digital Intelligence Platform Brandwatch. Natural Language Processing algorithms enabled comparative analysis, topic detection, classification, leading to a 279,790-item dataset. Results News channels and Twitter were the most important platforms feeding cardiovascular disease information. Facebook was mostly relevant for information sharing. In the pre-COVID-19 period, cardiovascular disease ranked 5th among main health issues (vaccines, tumors, influenza, diabetes) on the Web, and the most discussed cardiovascular disease themes were symptoms/diagnosis (34%), treatments (20%), disease causes/triggers (11%), disease information (9%), quality of life (8%). Conversations on cardiovascular disease prevention were marginal (5%). The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown strongly impacted on discussed topics; novel themes emerged: hospitalization, death risk/occurrence, greater cardiovascular disease risk. Discussions on cardiovascular disease prevention remained marginal (4%). COVID-19 pandemic increased fear of severe COVID-19 among patients with cardiovascular disease and worsened quality of relationship/contact with physicians. Conclusions A limited awareness of cardiovascular disease and their prevention was observed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients/caregivers need more information and contact with physicians, as it emerged during COVID-19 pandemic. It is urgent to promote novel prevention strategies and to engage people leveraging digital channels and social media. Graphical Abstract

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The World Wide Web has made possible an entirely new form of communication in the classroom: asynchronous, public, non-sequential, and selective (Windschitl, 1998). However, it is unclear how discussion webs can contribute to educational processes. Our research investigates the role of instructional interactive webs in promoting among preservice teachers an "academic community of learners," defined as an academic community that grounds inquiries and dilemmas emerging in their practice in an academic discourse based on considering alternatives and providing argumentation and evidence for their claims (Wells, Chang, & Maher, 1990). Based on this definition of a community of learners and concerns raised by fellow instructors, we created categories and analyzed one class discussion web, coding a total of 1,124 web entries of undergraduate students and their instructor to examine references they used, topics, genres, and relationships with other messages. Our findings suggest that students' web postings were mostly very sophisticated in that students were able to integrate outside references with new and enriching discussion topics, thereby providing viewpoints alternative to and sometimes critical of those expressed by the instructor and other students. These findings suggest that instructional interactive webs can be a useful tool for promoting and building an academic community of learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]