Analysis of Tweets Containing Information Related to Rheumatological Diseases on Twitter

Abstract

Background: Tweets often indicate the interests of Twitter users. Data from Twitter could be used to better understand the interest in and perceptions of a variety of diseases and medical conditions, including rheumatological diseases which have increased in prevalence over the past several decades. The aim of this study was to perform a content analysis of tweets referring to rheumatological diseases. Methods: The content of each tweet was rated as medical (including a reference to diagnosis, treatment, or other aspects of the disease) or non-medical (such as requesting help). The type of user and the suitability of the medical content (appropriate content or, on the contrary, fake content if it was medically inappropriate according to the current medical knowledge) were also evaluated. The number of retweets and likes generated were also investigated. Results: We analyzed a total of 1514 tweets: 1093 classified as medical and 421 as non-medical. The diseases with more tweets were the most prevalent. Within the medical tweets, the content of these varied according to the disease (some more focused on diagnosis and others on treatment). The fake content came from unidentified users and mostly referred to the treatment of diseases. Conclusions: According to our results, the analysis of content posted on Twitter in regard to rheumatological diseases may be useful for investigating the public’s prevailing areas of interest, concerns and opinions. Thus, it could facilitate communication between health care professionals and patients, and ultimately improve the doctor–patient relationship. Due to the interest shown in medical issues it seems desirable to have healthcare institutions and healthcare workers involved in Twitter.

Areas of Interest and Social Consideration of Antidepressants on English Tweets: A Natural Language Processing Classification Study

“…This is congruent with previous research that showed that user interest in Twitter was significantly focused on certain areas of the study. In a study about rheumatological illnesses, user interest was focused on only two of the areas of the ones included in the research, and in another paper about side effects associated with glucocorticoids, interest was focused on two adverse effects [55,56].…”

Fake news: Why do we believe it?

“…In everyday practice, rheumatologists are confronted with misinformation on general health topics, as described above, and also with specific fake news in the spectrum of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. A Spanish study [57] analysed the content of a random sample of original tweets on Twitter, mainly about rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, 1,093 classified as medical and 421 as non-medical. A small rate of false information was found (4.4%), a little higher for therapeutics (5.8%).…”

Patients with rheumatic diseases are ready to use social media in clinical practice; what about rheumatologists? A cross-sectional survey

“…Patients' knowledge about their disease and better patient-physician communication can improve patient's treatment adherence and eventually the clinical outcome [22,23]. Social media and mobile communication applications can be important instruments for effective education and communications for patients as well as physicians [24,25]. Combining social media platforms and digital health technologies may have added benefit on communication between patients and health providers, monitoring disease activity, disease management and education [26].…”