Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Oct 29, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Nov 1, 2024 - Dec 27, 2024
Date Accepted: Apr 4, 2025
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF INFERTILITY ON FRENCH PATIENTS’ QUALITY OF LIFE: A STUDY BASED ON SOCIAL MEDIA DATA
ABSTRACT
Background:
Infertility is defined as the inability to achieve a live birth after one year of regular sexual intercourse, affecting 1 in 6 couples in France. The use of ART for infertility issues has been steadily increasing in recent years, with in vitro fertilization being the most common type of ART. Infertility is frequently regarded as a significant life crisis for many individuals, potentially leading to depression, anxiety, social isolation, and sexual dysfunction. Couples experiencing infertility demonstrate a high prevalence of negative emotional responses and decreased life satisfaction as a result of infertility and its treatments. Social media have become key tools for finding and disseminating medical information.
Objective:
This study aims to explore the most discussed topics among patients with infertility and to characterize the impact of infertility and ART on their quality of life by analyzing social media data.
Methods:
This retrospective observational study includes French messages from patients in France discussing their infertility between 2019 and 2022. A Biterm Topic Model (BTM) algorithm capable of automatically identifying the different topics discussed was applied. A quality of life (QoL) algorithm classified the messages according to 5 dimensions: physical, psychological, activity-related, social and financial.
Results:
An analysis was carried out on a corpus of 26,919 messages written by 9,807 patients. The subjects most frequently discussed were the ART procedures, marked by miscarriages (21%), ovulation cycle monitoring (19%), and baby trials in relation to professional life (13%). Concerning the impact on quality of life, patients mainly expressed a physical impact (62%), particularly linked to miscarriages (59%). Psychological impact (52%), including fear and anxiety (61%), was also mentioned. The social dimension of infertility (11%) - notably its effects on married life (67%) - the financial burden of infertility treatments (9%), and the impact on activities (9%) were also addressed.
Conclusions:
Patients facing infertility share their experiences on social media. We observed a strong impact on their quality of life, affecting their physical and psychological health, as well as their social, financial and professional lives. These results underline the importance of taking into account the multiple dimensions of infertility when caring for patients, and highlight the crucial role of social media in supporting and understanding this reality. Clinical Trial: Not applicable
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.