JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Monitoring medication safety is important and social media may be a useful source for obtaining real-world data on adverse drug events. Whilst many studies have been undertaken to detect adverse events on social media, a consensus has not been reached as to the role of social media in pharmacovigilance or its role in pharmacovigilance as a complement to other sources.

Objective:

To evaluate and characterise the use of social media in adverse drug event detection and pharmacovigilance as compared to other data sources.

Methods:

A scoping review will be undertaken. We will search 11 bibliographical databases as well as Google Scholar, handsearching and forward and backward citation searching. Records will be screened in Covidence by two independent reviewers. Studies will be included if they used any type of social media to detect any type of adverse drug reactions and compared the results to any other data source. Data will be extracted using a data extraction sheet piloted by the authors. Important data on the methods, types of adverse events and comparison data source will be included.

Results:

We will present descriptive summary statistics as well as identify any patterns in the types of adverse drug events detected, including but not limited to the similarities and differences in what is reported, gaps in the evidence, and the methods used to extract adverse drug events from social media data. We will also summarize what was reported to be the performance, and scalability if available and how this data sources compares to conventional data sources.

Conclusions:

This scoping review will provide valuable information for pharmacovigilance. Through the comparisons with other data sources, we will be able to conclude the added value of social media in monitoring adverse events of medications. Clinical Trial: Research Registry