Discussions of Antibiotic Resistance on Social Media Platforms: Text Mining and Mixed Methods Content Analysis Study

Area of Science:

• Social media analysis
• Patient-reported outcomes
• Public health communication

Background:

• Social media platforms are increasingly used for sharing health experiences, including antibiotic ineffectiveness.
• Patients discuss their quality of life (QoL) in online forums, providing valuable real-world data.
• These platforms serve as key tools for medical information dissemination and discovery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key themes in patient discussions regarding antibiotic ineffectiveness.
• To understand the challenges patients face due to antibiotic ineffectiveness.
• To assess the impact of antibiotic ineffectiveness on patients' physical, psychological, social, and financial QoL.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective, noninterventional study analyzing French-language social media posts from January 2014 to July 2020.
• Extraction and filtering of publicly available online forum messages detailing patient experiences with antibiotics.
• Analysis of 3773 messages from 2335 individual users.

Main Results:

• Antibiotic treatment inefficacy and lack of information were prominent discussion topics.
• Quality of life was mentioned in 63% of posts, with physical impacts (78%) and psychological impacts (65%) being most common.
• Patients reported persistent symptoms, adverse effects, anxiety, and despair.

Conclusions:

• Perceived antibiotic ineffectiveness significantly affects patients' daily lives, particularly physical and psychological well-being.
• Patient-generated data from social media offers valuable insights for healthcare professionals.
• Social media analysis can complement traditional evidence to optimize public messaging on appropriate antibiotic use.