Rheumatology on Reddit: A descriptive and sentiment analysis

Area of Science:

• Social media analytics
• Digital health
• Rheumatology research

Background:

• Social media data is increasingly utilized in medical research.
• Previous studies on social media in rheumatology often focused on specific diseases.
• A systematic exploration of rheumatology communities on Reddit and sentiment analysis is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and characterize rheumatology-specific subreddits on Reddit.
• To analyze the sentiment of discussions within these online communities.
• To understand patient experiences and support needs in rheumatology.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Reddit search to identify subreddits with a clear rheumatology focus and >1000 subscribers.
• Collected descriptive metrics including creation date, subscriber count, and activity.
• Applied a pre-trained, fine-tuned sentiment analysis model to classify post sentiment.

Main Results:

• Identified 20 active rheumatology subreddits with significant growth since 2016-2017.
• Common themes included patient experiences, emotional support, and demographic information.
• Negative sentiment was prevalent in discussions on fibromyalgia and mechanical musculoskeletal disorders, linked to hopelessness and symptom management challenges.

Conclusions:

• Rheumatology communities on Reddit serve as platforms for health discussions, indicating potential for enhanced patient support and engagement.
• Limitations include Reddit's user demographics, reliance on a Twitter-trained sentiment model, and exclusion of smaller subreddits.