Publishing on Topical Subjects in Total Joint Arthroplasty Is Associated With Increased Social Media Attention

Social media platforms are often used for research dissemination and collaboration. Given the increased prevalence of online-only publications, understanding what drives research dissemination is important. Here, we analyzed factors associated with increased social media attention among peer-reviewed publications in total knee arthroplasty, total hip arthroplasty, and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty.

We analyzed publications about total knee arthroplasty, total hip arthroplasty, or unicompartmental knee arthroplasty from 2010 to 2022 using a national database. We analyzed a weighted count of social media mentions, using negative binomial regressions adjusting for days since publication. Publications on "hot topics" in arthroplasty were examined including navigation/robotics, COVID-19, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and reimbursement. There were 9,542 publications included, 4,216 (44%) were open access (OA), 338 (3.5%) included navigation, 32 (0.34%) discussed race/ethnicity, 20 (0.2%) discussed COVID-19, 3,840 (40%) were randomized studies, 30 (0.3%) discussed reimbursement, and 2,867 (30%) were in top-10 orthopaedic journals.

Factors associated with higher weighted score included studies about COVID-19 (50 versus 6.0, P < .001), race/ethnicity (15.8 versus 6.0, P < .001), OA status (6.3 versus 5.8, P = .001), and randomized studies (6.5 versus 5.7, P < .001). Studies from top-10 journals had a lower score (5.8 versus 6.2, P = .025), as did studies about body mass index (3.4 versus 6.1, P = .001). Studies about navigation and reimbursement did not have significantly different scores.

Studies on COVID-19, race/ethnicity, randomized studies, and OA publication were associated with increased social media while those in top-10 orthopaedic journals had lower scores.

Level IV, Prognostic Study.