Natural Language Processing for Large-Scale Analysis of Eczema and Psoriasis Social Media Comments
Social media tools are widely used by dermatologic patients. Eczema and psoriasis, two of the most common inflammatory skin diseases, are well-represented on the social media site Reddit. We used natural language processing tools to examine comments in subreddits r/psoriasis and r/eczema (combined u...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-09-01
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Series: | JID Innovations |
Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667026723000334 |
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author | Jack A. Cummins Guohai Zhou Vinod E. Nambudiri |
author_facet | Jack A. Cummins Guohai Zhou Vinod E. Nambudiri |
author_sort | Jack A. Cummins |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Social media tools are widely used by dermatologic patients. Eczema and psoriasis, two of the most common inflammatory skin diseases, are well-represented on the social media site Reddit. We used natural language processing tools to examine comments in subreddits r/psoriasis and r/eczema (combined user base >187,000), tracking commenters’ interest levels and sentiments related to common treatments for psoriasis and eczema as well as discussions of adverse drug reactions. All comments from 2014–2020 from the subreddits r/eczema (n = 196,571) and r/psoriasis (n = 123,144) were retrieved and processed using natural language processing tools. Comment volume in r/eczema related to antibacterial therapies, lifestyle changes, and prednisone decreased from 2014–2020, whereas phototherapy comments remained stable, and dupilumab comment volume increased. Comment volume in r/psoriasis for newer therapeutics (including biologics and apremilast) increased after Food and Drug Administration approval, whereas older therapies such as etanercept, adalimumab, and methotrexate decreased over time. Sentiment scores tended to decrease in the years after Food and Drug Administration approval. Among psoriasis treatments, calcipotriene and branded calcipotriene/betamethasone foam had the highest sentiment, whereas apremilast had the lowest overall sentiment score. These analyses also identified changes in patient interest levels and sentiment related to eczema and psoriasis treatments, suggesting an area for additional research. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-11T21:54:54Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-9efbcfc4b7bb44eea7a7c2b879a48ab9 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2667-0267 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-11T21:54:54Z |
publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
publisher | Elsevier |
record_format | Article |
series | JID Innovations |
spelling | doaj.art-9efbcfc4b7bb44eea7a7c2b879a48ab92023-09-26T04:12:42ZengElsevierJID Innovations2667-02672023-09-0135100210Natural Language Processing for Large-Scale Analysis of Eczema and Psoriasis Social Media CommentsJack A. Cummins0Guohai Zhou1Vinod E. Nambudiri2Manchester Essex Regional High School, Manchester, MADepartment of Dermatology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MADepartment of Dermatology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Correspondence: Vinod Nambudiri, Department of Dermatology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.Social media tools are widely used by dermatologic patients. Eczema and psoriasis, two of the most common inflammatory skin diseases, are well-represented on the social media site Reddit. We used natural language processing tools to examine comments in subreddits r/psoriasis and r/eczema (combined user base >187,000), tracking commenters’ interest levels and sentiments related to common treatments for psoriasis and eczema as well as discussions of adverse drug reactions. All comments from 2014–2020 from the subreddits r/eczema (n = 196,571) and r/psoriasis (n = 123,144) were retrieved and processed using natural language processing tools. Comment volume in r/eczema related to antibacterial therapies, lifestyle changes, and prednisone decreased from 2014–2020, whereas phototherapy comments remained stable, and dupilumab comment volume increased. Comment volume in r/psoriasis for newer therapeutics (including biologics and apremilast) increased after Food and Drug Administration approval, whereas older therapies such as etanercept, adalimumab, and methotrexate decreased over time. Sentiment scores tended to decrease in the years after Food and Drug Administration approval. Among psoriasis treatments, calcipotriene and branded calcipotriene/betamethasone foam had the highest sentiment, whereas apremilast had the lowest overall sentiment score. These analyses also identified changes in patient interest levels and sentiment related to eczema and psoriasis treatments, suggesting an area for additional research.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667026723000334 |
spellingShingle | Jack A. Cummins Guohai Zhou Vinod E. Nambudiri Natural Language Processing for Large-Scale Analysis of Eczema and Psoriasis Social Media Comments JID Innovations |
title | Natural Language Processing for Large-Scale Analysis of Eczema and Psoriasis Social Media Comments |
title_full | Natural Language Processing for Large-Scale Analysis of Eczema and Psoriasis Social Media Comments |
title_fullStr | Natural Language Processing for Large-Scale Analysis of Eczema and Psoriasis Social Media Comments |
title_full_unstemmed | Natural Language Processing for Large-Scale Analysis of Eczema and Psoriasis Social Media Comments |
title_short | Natural Language Processing for Large-Scale Analysis of Eczema and Psoriasis Social Media Comments |
title_sort | natural language processing for large scale analysis of eczema and psoriasis social media comments |
url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667026723000334 |
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