Using Topic Modeling to Understand Patients' and Caregivers' Perspectives About Left Ventricular Assist Device:...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Heart failure (HF) affects over 64 million globally, with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) crucial for end-stage management.
• Web forums like MyLVAD.com are vital information sources for HF patients and caregivers.
• LVADs serve as a bridge to transplantation or destination therapy due to donor organ scarcity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and analyze the primary topics of discussion among LVAD users and their families on the MyLVAD.com forum.
• To understand the lived experiences and concerns of individuals with LVADs.
• To inform healthcare providers on patient needs for tailored support.

Main Methods:

• Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling was employed.
• A visualization tool was used to analyze the identified topics.
• 459 posts from 2015-2023 by LVAD recipients and family members were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Five key themes emerged: family support (39.5%), clothing (23.9%), infection (18.2%), power dependency (12%), and self-care/monitoring (6.3%).
• Subthemes included caregiving roles, comfort, driveline infections, power challenges, and device management.
• Family support and clothing were the most frequently discussed topics.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights critical areas of concern for LVAD patients and their families, emphasizing the need for comprehensive support.
• Insights from this analysis can enhance patient-provider communication and inform the development of targeted interventions.
• Understanding user-generated content on health forums provides valuable perspectives for improving LVAD patient care.