BackgroundPatients with hypothyroidism report poor health-related quality of life despite having undergone thyroid hormone replacement therapy (THRT). Understanding patient concerns regarding levothyroxine can help improve the treatment outcomes of THRT.ObjectiveThis study aimed to (1) identify the distinctive themes in patient concerns regarding THRT, (2) determine whether patients have unique primary medication concerns specific to their demographics, and (3) determine the predictability of primary medication concerns on patient treatment satisfaction.MethodsWe collected patient reviews from WebMD in the United States (1037 reviews about generic levothyroxine and 1075 reviews about the brand version) posted between September 1, 2007, and January 30, 2017. We used natural language processing to identify the themes of medication concerns. Multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to examine the predictability of the primary medication concerns on patient treatment satisfaction.ResultsNatural language processing of the patient reviews of levothyroxine posted on a social networking site produced 6 distinctive themes of patient medication concerns related to levothyroxine treatment: how to take the drug, treatment initiation, dose adjustment, symptoms of pain, generic substitutability, and appearance. Patients had different primary medication concerns unique to their gender, age, and treatment duration. Furthermore, treatment satisfaction on levothyroxine depended on what primary medication concerns the patient had.ConclusionsNatural language processing of text content available on social media could identify different themes of patient medication concerns that can be validated in future studies to inform the design of tailored medication counseling for improved patient treatment satisfaction.
Background/ObjectivesPatients with hypothyroidism report poor health-related quality of life despite having undergone thyroid hormone replacement therapy (THRT). Understanding patient concerns regarding levothyroxine can help improve the treatment outcomes of thyroid hormone replacement therapy. This study aimed to (1) identify the distinctive themes in patient concerns regarding THRT; to (2) determine whether patients have unique primary medication concerns specific to demographics, and to (3) determine the predictability of primary medication concerns on patient treatment satisfaction.
MethodsWe collected patient reviews from WebMD (1,037 reviews about generic levothyroxine and 1,075 reviews about the brand version) posted between
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