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Updated: Jan 6, 2026
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Performing Data Mining And Integrative Analysis Of Biomarker in Breast Cancer Using Multiple Publicly Accessible Databases
Published on: May 17, 2019
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Analysis of Breast Cancer Information on Facebook Using Neural Network-Based Topic Modeling and Metadata Analysis of
Rasika Muralidharan1, Arthur D Soto-Vasquez2, María Montenegro3
1Luddy School of Informatics, Indiana University, Bloomington, United States.
Journal of Medical Internet Research
|October 15, 2025
Summary
Breast cancer information on Facebook is similar across English and Spanish, but engagement differs. Leading health authorities may have less presence in Spanish, potentially limiting access to crucial information for Hispanic women.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Communication
- Natural Language Processing
Background:
- Breast cancer is a leading diagnosis for women globally, with many seeking online information.
- English-language breast cancer information quality is studied, but less is known about Spanish-language content.
- Social media platforms like Facebook are significant sources of health information for diverse populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze and compare English and Spanish breast cancer content on Facebook using natural language processing (NLP).
- To understand thematic similarities and differences in breast cancer information shared across languages.
- To investigate variations in user engagement and content sources between English and Spanish posts.
Main Methods:
- Collected and processed over 339,000 English and Spanish Facebook posts using the CrowdTangle API.
- Applied BERTopic modeling and k-means clustering to identify key themes in both languages.
- Analyzed metadata, engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares), and poster characteristics for top-performing content.
Main Results:
- Identified 40 optimal topics for English and 30 for Spanish content, revealing thematic overlap (e.g., mammography, personal stories).
- Spanish content uniquely featured local events and at-home breast exams (no longer recommended).
- Significant differences in engagement: English posts had more likes/shares, Spanish posts had more comments. Top English content from nonprofits, top Spanish content from local government/companies.
Conclusions:
- While breast cancer topics are consistent across languages on Facebook, engagement patterns reveal cultural differences.
- Leading health authorities may have a weaker presence in Spanish-language social media.
- This gap could hinder access to vital, accurate breast cancer information for Spanish-speaking communities, who may face poorer prognoses.
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