Social Media Platforms Listening Study on Atopic Dermatitis: Quantitative and Qualitative Findings. (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, pruritic, inflammatory disease that occurs most frequently in children but also affects many adults. Social media have become key tools for finding and disseminating medical information. OBJECTIVE To identify the main themes of discussion, the difficulties encountered by patients with respect to atopic dermatitis and the impact of the pathology on quality of life (physical, psychological, social, or financial), but also to study the perception of patients regarding their treatment. METHODS A retrospective study was carried out by collecting social media posts in French language written by internet users mentioning their experience with atopic dermatitis, their quality of life and their treatments. Messages related to AD discomfort posted between July 1, 2010 and October 23, 2020 were extracted from French-speaking publicly available online forums. Automatic and manual extractions were implemented to create a general corpus and two sub-corpuses depending on the control of the disease. RESULTS A total of 33 115 messages associated with AD were included in the analysis corpus after extraction and cleaning. These messages were posted by 15 857 separate web users, most of them being women younger than 40 years. Tips to manage eczema and everyday hygiene/treatments were among the most discussed topics for Controlled AD sub-corpus, while baby-related topics and therapeutic failure were among the most discussed topics for Insufficiently Controlled AD sub-corpus. Quality of life was discussed in both sub-corpuses with a higher proportion in the Controlled AD sub-corpus. Treatments and their perception were also discussed by web users. CONCLUSIONS More than just emotional or peer support, AD patients turn to online forums to discuss their health. Our findings show the need for an intersection between social media and health care and the importance of developing new approaches such as Atopic Dermatitis Control Tool (ADCT) focused on patients with AD. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable (not a trial)