Concerns regarding health-related social media usage amongst otolaryngology patients

The objective of this study was to determine concerns of otolaryngology patients regarding health-related social media usage.

A total of 372 otolaryngology patients were asked to report their level of concern (on a scale of "not at all", "a little", "somewhat", or "highly" concerned) regarding health-related social media usage as it pertained to risk of "loss of privacy or anonymity related to your health condition", "reliability of disease/treatment information", and "reliability of physician reviews/recommendations". Demographics and social media usage patterns (on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or other platforms) were compared to concerns about health-related social media usage.

The level of concern was highest for reliability of disease/treatment information and least for loss of privacy/anonymity (p < 0.001). Concern about loss of privacy/anonymity was associated with age over 25 years (OR = 3.12, 95%CI 1.66-5.86, p < 0.001) and negatively with daily use of Twitter (OR = 0.54, 95%CI 0.30-0.96, p = 0.035). Concern about reliability of disease/treatment information was negatively associated with Medicare insurance (OR = 0.57, 95%CI 0.35-0.93, p = 0.024), which is available to adults aged ≥65 years, and concern over reliability of physician reviews/recommendations was associated with patients identifying their race as Asian, American Indian and other (OR = 3.16, 95%CI 1.22-8.19, p = 0.018).

The greatest concern about health-related social media usage is related to reliability of disease/treatment information, though notably less among patients with Medicare who represent adults of age 65 years or older. Concerns over loss of privacy/anonymity and reliability of physician reviews/recommendations are also prevalent and associated with patient demographics. These concerns may constrain utilization of social media for healthcare purposes, which highlights the importance of reliable sources of information.