Patient Perceptions of Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation on Social Media

With increased direct-to-consumer marketing, there is a demand by patients for more information regarding hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HNS) therapy. There is also concern about the quality of the educational content available. The aim of this study was to examine social media to obtain patient perceptions of HNS therapy, while a secondary aim was to determine the prevalence of posts by physicians about HNS.

Posts from Instagram, X, and Facebook from June 2022 through December 2022 were included. Keywords such as hypoglossal nerve stimulation, upper airway stimulation, and inspire therapy were searched. A standardized classification system was used to group posts based on perspective and the media utilized; post purpose and post tone (positive, negative, or neutral) were also evaluated.

497 posts were included, with 451 (90.7%) from X, 31 (6.2%) from Instagram, and 15 (3.0%) from Facebook. Post authorship was 34.8% by healthcare organizations, 19.3% by patients, 14.3% by medical supply companies, and only 7.0% authored by physicians. Posts written by patients (n = 96) were significantly more likely to have a positive tone, whereas posts written by other authors (n = 401) were more likely to have a neutral tone (p = 0.001).

Patients demonstrated positive perceptions of HNS therapy across multiple social media sites. Posts written by physicians comprised a minority of public social media posts regarding HNS; making it important for physicians to consider taking on an active role in social media.

Level 4.