JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

There is a growing interest in the pattern of consumption of health-related information on social media platforms. We evaluated the content of discussions around pancreatic cancer on Twitter to identify subtopics of greatest interest to healthcare providers (HCPs) and the general public.

Objective:

To study the themes and dynamics of conversations around pancreatic cancer on Twitter.

Methods:

We used an online analytical tool (CREATION Pinpoint) to quantify Twitter mentions (tweets and re-tweets) related to pancreatic cancer between 1/2018 to 12/2019. Keywords, hashtags, word combinations, and phrases were used to identify mentions. HCP profiles were identified using machine learning and then human verified. Remaining user profiles were classified as general public. Data from conversations were stratified qualitatively into 5 domains; 1) prevention, 2) survivorship, 3) treatment, 4) research, and 5) policy. We compared the theme of conversations between HCPs and the general public and analyzed the impact of pancreatic cancer awareness month and public figure pancreatic cancer announcements on the overall volume of conversations.

Results:

Out of 1,258,028 mentions on pancreatic cancer, 313,668 unique mentions were classified into the 5 domains. We found that HCPs most commonly discussed pancreatic cancer research (10,640/27,031 mentions, 39.4%), while general public most commonly discussed treatment (154,484/307,449 mentions, 50.2%). Pancreatic cancer awareness months did not increase the number of mentions by HCP in any of 5 domains but general public mentions increased temporarily in all domains except prevention and policy. HCP mentions did not increase with public figure pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Mr. Alex Trebek’s diagnosis increased general public mentions on survivorship, while Justice Ruth Ginsburg’s diagnosis increased conversations on treatment.

Conclusions:

HCP conversation on Twitter is not aligned with the general public. The HCP conversation was mainly limited to research while general public were more interested in treatment. PCAM temporarily increased general public conversations around treatment, research and survivorship but not prevention and policy. Future studies are needed to understand how to drive conversations on social media platforms to increase the health care awareness among general public.