JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Adverse drug events pose a significant public health burden leading to hospitalisation, disability, and death. Even those adverse events categorised as non-serious can severely impact on patient quality of life, adherence, and persistence to a prescribed treatment. Monitoring medication safety, however, is challenging. Online patient reports posted on social media may be a useful supplementary source for obtaining real-world data on adverse drug events. While sophisticated techniques continue to be developed to identify adverse events from social media, a consensus has not been reached as to the value of the data extracted in relation to more traditional data sources.

Objective:

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

Methods:

We undertook a scoping review. We searched 11 bibliographical databases as well as Google Scholar, handsearching and forward and backward citation searching. Records were screened in Covidence by two independent reviewers at both title and abstract stage and the full-text screening stage. Studies were included if they used any type of social media (such as Twitter or patient forums) to detect any type of adverse event associated with any type of drug medication and then compared the results ascertained from social media to any other data source (such as spontaneous reporting systems or clinical literature). Data were collated using a data extraction sheet piloted by the authors. Data were extracted on the types of adverse events and drugs searched for and included, the methods used (such as machine learning), limitations of the methodology, availability of data and code, details of the comparison data source, the results, and conclusions.

Results:

We screened 6538 unique records with 73 publications representing 60 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. A wide variety of methods were used in the studies. The most common social media platforms used were Twitter and online health forums, and the most common comparison was spontaneous reporting systems although other comparisons were made such as with the scientific literature and product labels. The results and conclusions of the studies varied. Although similar patterns of adverse event reporting tended to be identified the frequencies were lower in social media. Social media data was found to be useful in identifying new or unexpected adverse events and adverse events in a more timely manner. Most studies advocated the use of social media as an adjunct to traditional data sources. Some indicated the value of social media in understanding patient perspectives such as the impact of adverse events.

Conclusions:

This scoping review provides a valuable summary of a large body of research and important information for pharmacovigilance, as well as, suggestions for future directions of further research in this area.