Longitudinal Changes of COVID-19 Symptoms in Social Media: Observational Study
BackgroundIn December 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak started in China and rapidly spread around the world. Many studies have been conducted to understand the clinical characteristics of COVID-19, and recently postinfection sequelae of this disease have begun to be investigated....
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Online Access: | https://www.jmir.org/2022/2/e33959 |
| _version_ | 1797735355864055808 |
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| author | Sarah Sarabadani Gaurav Baruah Yan Fossat Jouhyun Jeon |
| author_facet | Sarah Sarabadani Gaurav Baruah Yan Fossat Jouhyun Jeon |
| author_sort | Sarah Sarabadani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundIn December 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak started in China and rapidly spread around the world. Many studies have been conducted to understand the clinical characteristics of COVID-19, and recently postinfection sequelae of this disease have begun to be investigated. However, there is little consensus on the longitudinal changes of lasting physical or psychological symptoms from prior COVID-19 infection.
ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate and analyze public social media data from Reddit to understand the longitudinal impact of COVID-19 symptoms before and after recovery from COVID-19.
MethodsWe collected 22,890 Reddit posts that were generated by 14,401 authors from March 14 to December 16, 2020. Using active learning and intensive manual inspection, 292 (2.03%) active authors, who were infected by COVID-19 and frequently reported disease progress on Reddit, along with their 2213 (9.67%) longitudinal posts, were identified. Machine learning tools to extract biomedical information were applied to identify COVID-19 symptoms mentioned in the Reddit posts. We then examined longitudinal changes in individual physiological and psychological characteristics before and after recovery from COVID-19 infection.
ResultsIn total, 58 physiological and 3 psychological symptoms were identified in social media before and after recovery from COVID-19 infection. From the analyses, we found that symptoms of patients with COVID-19 lasted 2.5 months. On average, symptoms appeared around a month before recovery and remained for 1.5 months after recovery. Well-known COVID-19 symptoms, such as fever, cough, and chest congestion, appeared relatively earlier in patient journeys and were frequently observed before recovery from COVID-19. Meanwhile, mental discomfort or distress, such as brain fog or stress, fatigue, and manifestations on toes or fingers, were frequently mentioned after recovery and remained as intermediate- and longer-term sequelae.
ConclusionsIn this study, we showed the dynamic changes in COVID-19 symptoms during the infection and recovery phases of the disease. Our findings suggest the feasibility of using social media data for investigating disease states and understanding the evolution of the physiological and psychological characteristics of COVID-19 infection over time. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:57:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bb888b99e85b44a6bbe77ba7ec9cff3d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1438-8871 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:57:51Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-bb888b99e85b44a6bbe77ba7ec9cff3d2023-08-28T20:49:07ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712022-02-01242e3395910.2196/33959Longitudinal Changes of COVID-19 Symptoms in Social Media: Observational StudySarah Sarabadanihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3734-8089Gaurav Baruahhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4992-0524Yan Fossathttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1271-2633Jouhyun Jeonhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2236-2849 BackgroundIn December 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak started in China and rapidly spread around the world. Many studies have been conducted to understand the clinical characteristics of COVID-19, and recently postinfection sequelae of this disease have begun to be investigated. However, there is little consensus on the longitudinal changes of lasting physical or psychological symptoms from prior COVID-19 infection. ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate and analyze public social media data from Reddit to understand the longitudinal impact of COVID-19 symptoms before and after recovery from COVID-19. MethodsWe collected 22,890 Reddit posts that were generated by 14,401 authors from March 14 to December 16, 2020. Using active learning and intensive manual inspection, 292 (2.03%) active authors, who were infected by COVID-19 and frequently reported disease progress on Reddit, along with their 2213 (9.67%) longitudinal posts, were identified. Machine learning tools to extract biomedical information were applied to identify COVID-19 symptoms mentioned in the Reddit posts. We then examined longitudinal changes in individual physiological and psychological characteristics before and after recovery from COVID-19 infection. ResultsIn total, 58 physiological and 3 psychological symptoms were identified in social media before and after recovery from COVID-19 infection. From the analyses, we found that symptoms of patients with COVID-19 lasted 2.5 months. On average, symptoms appeared around a month before recovery and remained for 1.5 months after recovery. Well-known COVID-19 symptoms, such as fever, cough, and chest congestion, appeared relatively earlier in patient journeys and were frequently observed before recovery from COVID-19. Meanwhile, mental discomfort or distress, such as brain fog or stress, fatigue, and manifestations on toes or fingers, were frequently mentioned after recovery and remained as intermediate- and longer-term sequelae. ConclusionsIn this study, we showed the dynamic changes in COVID-19 symptoms during the infection and recovery phases of the disease. Our findings suggest the feasibility of using social media data for investigating disease states and understanding the evolution of the physiological and psychological characteristics of COVID-19 infection over time.https://www.jmir.org/2022/2/e33959 |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Sarabadani Gaurav Baruah Yan Fossat Jouhyun Jeon Longitudinal Changes of COVID-19 Symptoms in Social Media: Observational Study Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| title | Longitudinal Changes of COVID-19 Symptoms in Social Media: Observational Study |
| title_full | Longitudinal Changes of COVID-19 Symptoms in Social Media: Observational Study |
| title_fullStr | Longitudinal Changes of COVID-19 Symptoms in Social Media: Observational Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Longitudinal Changes of COVID-19 Symptoms in Social Media: Observational Study |
| title_short | Longitudinal Changes of COVID-19 Symptoms in Social Media: Observational Study |
| title_sort | longitudinal changes of covid 19 symptoms in social media observational study |
| url | https://www.jmir.org/2022/2/e33959 |
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