Background Although chemotherapy was first introduced for the treatment of cancer more than 60 years ago, the public understanding and acceptance of chemotherapy is still debatable. To the best of our knowledge, no study has assessed the conversations and misconceptions about chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer on social media platforms among the Arabic-speaking populations. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the types of conversations and misconceptions that were shared on Twitter regarding chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer among the Arabic-speaking populations. Methods All Arabic tweets containing any of the representative set of keywords related to chemotherapy and written between May 1, 2017 and October 31, 2017 were retrieved. A manual content analysis was performed to identify the categories of the users, general themes of the tweets, and the common misconceptions about chemotherapy. A chi-square test for independence with adjusted residuals was used to assess the significant associations between the categories of the users and the themes of the tweets. Results A total of 402,157 tweets were retrieved, of which, we excluded 309,602 retweets and 62,651 irrelevant tweets. Therefore, 29,904 tweets were included in the final analysis. The majority of the tweets were posted by general users (25,774/29,904, 86.2%), followed by the relatives and friends of patients with cancer (1913/29,904, 6.4%). The tweets were classified into 9 themes; prayers and wishes for the well-being of patients undergoing chemotherapy was the most common theme (20,288/29,904, 67.8%), followed by misconceptions about chemotherapy (2084/29,904, 7.0%). There was a highly significant association between the category of the users and the themes of the tweets (χ240= 16904.4, P<.001). Conclusions Our findings support those of the previous infodemiology studies that Twitter is a valuable social media platform for assessing public conversations, discussions, and misconceptions about various health-related topics. The most prevalent theme of the tweets in our sample population was supportive messages for the patients undergoing chemotherapy, thereby suggesting that Twitter could play a role as a support mechanism for such patients. The second most prevalent theme of the tweets in our study was the various misconceptions about chemotherapy. The findings of our exploratory analysis can help physicians and health care organizations tailor educational efforts in the future to address different misconceptions about chemotherapy, thereby leading to increased public acceptance of chemotherapy as a suitable mode of treatment for cancer.
Objective Coronary artery disease (CAD) constitutes a significant health hazard in middle-aged individuals in Saudi Arabia. We sought to assess the level of knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors and describe the perception of coronary intervention among the general population in the city of Jeddah in the western part of Saudi Arabia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Jeddah during the period from April 2019 to September 1, 2019, by using a structured online questionnaire to assess the participants' awareness of risk factors for CAD and coronary intervention. The survey included questions about socio-demographic data, risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, symptoms of heart attack, knowledge of coronary catheterizations, as well as resources of knowledge about coronary heart disease. Results The study included 984 participants. The majority of the participants had university diplomas (78.1%). Only 38.5 % were healthcare workers. Dyslipidemia and smoking were identified by 70.5% and 66.7%, respectively, as a recognized risk factor for CAD. Diabetes was mentioned by 32.1%. Participants without CAD risk factors had a significantly lower level of knowledge regarding the strong association between diabetes mellitus (DM) II and CAD (p-value=0.02). Healthcare professionals had a significantly lower level of knowledge regarding cardiac catheterization as compared to non-healthcare professionals. A higher percentage of healthcare professionals would agree to have cardiac catheterization if indicated (p-value=0.003). Awareness campaigns were the most common source of information for the public. Conclusion The current level of knowledge of CAD in the western part of Saudi Arabia is fair. National awareness campaigns are required to improve the level of healthcare education.
Familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a fatal autosomal recessive disorder resulting in an exaggerated and ineffective immune response. Genetic defects in familial HLH can lead to the impaired function of the secretory lysosome-dependent exocytosis pathway. We report an STXBP2 homozygous missense mutation c.1139A>G, p.(Gln380Arg) consistent with a genetic diagnosis of familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis type 5 associated with chronic diarrhea in a seven-year-old girl. She was diagnosed with HLH and achieved remission by the HLH-2004 protocol and allogeneic matched bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from her sibling. However, six years later, she had a relapse of HLH, which required a second BMT. Ever since then, she continued to have persistent chronic watery diarrhea and failure to thrive. Patients with familial HLH type 5 due to STXBP2 gene mutation can manifest as either with or without chronic diarrhea. This unusual relationship directs toward a specific gene mutation of STXBP2 as the cause of chronic diarrhea in familial HLH. The prevalence of familial HLH in Saudi Arabia is underestimated. Due to the high rate of consanguinity and the local customs of marrying within the same community, clinicians should consider familial HLH as a cause of persistent, unexplained, chronic diarrhea among the pediatric age group.
ObjectiveCoronary artery disease (CAD) constitutes a significant health hazard in middle-aged individuals in Saudi Arabia. We sought to assess the level of knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors and describe the perception of coronary intervention among the general population in the city of Jeddah in the western part of Saudi Arabia. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Jeddah during the period from April 2019 to September 1, 2019, by using a structured online questionnaire to assess the participants' awareness of risk factors for CAD and coronary intervention. The survey included questions about socio-demographic data, risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, symptoms of heart attack, knowledge of coronary catheterizations, as well as resources of knowledge about coronary heart disease.
BACKGROUND The Saudi government has been providing free medical care for all Saudis in public healthcare facilities, with the Ministry of Health being the major financing, operating, and supervising body. In July 2017, the Saudi government approved privatization of healthcare services. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess public reactions to this reform that have been shared on Twitter. METHODS All tweets that contained the hashtag “خصخصة_الصحة#” [i.e., #Healthcare_Privatization] between 9th and 16th July 2017 were collected. Manual content analysis of the tweets was carried out to identify sentiments, types of sources of the tweets and the general theme of each tweet. Association between the types of sources and sentiments delivered was tested using chi-square test. RESULTS Out of 12,430 tweets collected, 2,119 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. Most tweets delivered neutral or undetermined sentiments [37.4%], followed by positive [35.2%] and then negative [27.4%] sentiments. Each tweet has been assigned to one out of nine themes that best fits. The most common theme of the tweets was ‘supportive and explanatory’ [24.6%] then ‘unsupportive and/or expecting failure’ [16.3%]. The majority of contributors were members of the public [85.1%] and the clinical and non-clinical healthcare workers [10.1%]. There was a significant association between the type of the source and the sentiments delivered 2 [6, N = 1740] = 82.1, P-value <0.0001] CONCLUSIONS Our study has shown that Twitter data represents a possible rich source of information to be studied by decision makers to evaluate public responses to major reforms in healthcare systems worldwide. Studying such data provides an insight into common concerns and misunderstandings to be addressed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.