Exploring the Use of Social Media for Medical Problem Solving by Analyzing the Subreddit r/medical_advice:...

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Online Communities
• Health Information Seeking Behavior

Background:

• The internet has revolutionized health information access, with platforms like Reddit's r/medical_advice becoming popular hubs.
• Despite widespread use, research on the dynamics and content quality within online health communities remains limited.
• Understanding these platforms is crucial for improving the quality of online health information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively analyze the subreddit r/medical_advice.
• To characterize medical questions and the demographics of answer providers.
• To gain insights into user engagement and information-seeking behaviors.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study analyzed all posts and top comments from r/medical_advice from its inception (October 2011) to March 2023.
• Data collection utilized pushhift.io, including post/author flairs, scores, and engagement metrics.
• Statistical analyses were performed using RStudio and GraphPad Prism 9.0.

Main Results:

• Over 194,000 posts and 528,000 comments were analyzed, with only 0.1% of posts from verified medical professionals.
• Engagement was higher for urgent questions, severe pain reports, and pregnancy-related topics.
• Inclusion of media, especially videos, significantly increased post interaction.

Conclusions:

• r/medical_advice demonstrates significant user engagement, influenced by query type and media inclusion.
• High engagement with urgent and pregnancy-related posts highlights public interest and the subreddit's role as an initial information source.
• The prevalence of non-verified information providers necessitates improved moderation and involvement of medical professionals to ensure reliability.