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Social media as a source of drug safety information in the paediatric population
Ingrid Vilimelis-Piulats1, Ariadna Pérez-Ricart2, Maite Bosch Peligero1,2
1University of Barcelona (Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences Campus Diagonal), Barcelona, Spain.
Insights
Social media monitoring of child-rearing forums reveals valuable insights into pediatric adverse drug events (ADEs), including drug-related problems and medication errors, aiding pharmacovigilance efforts.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric pharmacovigilance
- Social media analytics
- Drug safety in children
Background:
- Children are a vulnerable population susceptible to adverse drug events (ADEs), encompassing negative outcomes due to medication (NOMs)-drug related problems (DRPs), adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and medication errors (MEs).
- Social media (SM) presents a novel avenue for pharmacovigilance, offering real-world data on medication experiences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the descriptions of ADRs, NOM-DRPs, and MEs within social media platforms.
- To evaluate the utility of social media as a complementary tool for pediatric pharmacovigilance.
Main Methods:
- An observational, ambispective study analyzed posts from child-rearing public parenting forums from inception to December 2021.
- NOM-DRPs, ADRs, and MEs were identified and classified, with causality assessed using the Liverpool Causality Assessment Tool and seriousness by WHO criteria.
- ADR prevalence was determined using summary of product characteristics.
Main Results:
- Analysis of 823 posts revealed 636 NOM-DRPs, including 161 ADRs and 95 MEs.
- ADRs were more frequent in females and infants; 98% were evaluated as possible, and 11% were serious.
- Uncommon, rare, and very rare ADRs were also documented, indicating a spectrum of reactions.
Conclusions:
- Social media data can be a valuable resource for assessing pediatric ADEs.
- Information gleaned from social media can provide complementary data for robust pharmacovigilance systems.
- This study highlights the potential of social media to enhance the understanding of drug safety in pediatric populations.
Aims:
The paediatric population is vulnerable to suffering adverse drug events (ADEs) such as negative outcomes due to medication (NOMs)-drug related problems (DRPs), especially adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and medication errors (MEs). Social media (SM) is considered an interesting tool for pharmacovigilance. This study aims to assess descriptions of ADRs, NOM-DRPs and MEs in SM.
Methods:
Observational, ambispective study assessing NOM-DRPs, ADRs and MEs in posts of child-rearing public parenting forums from inception until December 2021 of drugs dispensed in outpatient setting. ADEs were classified, assessing causality by Liverpool Causality Assessment Tool and seriousness by the World Health Organization criteria. Summary of product characteristics were used to determine ADR prevalence.
Results:
In total, 3573 posts of 2 child-rearing public parenting forums were retrieved; 906 (25%) contained descriptions of medicine of which 823 (91%) were analysed; 425 posts (52%) described 636 NOM-DRPs (1 NOM-DRP median per child, interquartile range [IQR] 1-8), from which 161 (26%) were ADRs in 105 posts (1.5 ADR median per child, IQR 1-4) and 95 (15%) were MEs in 64 posts (1 ME median per child, IQR 1-4). From posts mined with medicines mentions, 70% included NOM-DRPs, 18% ADRs and 10% MEs. More ADRs occurred in females and infants. Most ADRs (158; 98%) were evaluated as possible and 17 ADRs (11%) were serious. Uncommon 19 (12%), (14, 9%), very rare (3, 2%) and rare (1, 1%) ADRs were also found.
Conclusion:
Results suggest that information retrieved from SM may be useful to assess paediatric ADEs and provide valuable pharmacovigilance complementary data.
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