Using Twitter to investigate opinions about multiple sclerosis treatments: a descriptive, exploratory study

Area of Science:

• Social media analytics
• Pharmaceutical research
• Patient-reported outcomes

Background:

• Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a prevalent neurological disorder with evolving therapeutic strategies.
• Social media platforms are increasingly utilized for public opinion mining regarding health topics.
• This study explores patient sentiment towards existing multiple sclerosis treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate public opinion on various multiple sclerosis (MS) treatments using social media data.
• To compare sentiment scores across different MS medications.
• To assess the feasibility of social media as a tool for understanding patient perspectives on MS therapies.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive, exploratory study analyzing tweets mentioning specific multiple sclerosis (MS) treatments.
• Data collected from the Topsy Twitter archive (January 2006 - July 2014).
• Tweets underwent normalization and sentiment analysis to quantify opinions.

Main Results:

• Over 60,000 unique tweets concerning MS treatments were analyzed.
• Approximately 50% of tweets expressed non-neutral sentiment towards MS therapies.
• Statistically significant differences in mean sentiment scores were observed across treatments, with oral medications generally receiving more positive feedback than injectables.

Conclusions:

• A substantial proportion of social media discussions about multiple sclerosis (MS) treatments exhibit non-neutral sentiment.
• Social media analysis offers a valuable approach for gauging patient opinions on MS treatments.
• Findings suggest potential differences in patient perception between oral and injectable MS therapies.