Using Twitter Data Analysis to Understand the Perceptions, Beliefs, and Attitudes about Pharmacotherapy Used in Rheumatology: An Observational Study.

Twitter has become an important platform for disseminating information about rheumatology drugs by patients, health professionals, institutions, and other users. The aim of this study was to analyze tweets related to 16 drugs used in rheumatology, including their volume, content, and type of user (patients, patients' relatives, health professionals, health institutions, pharmaceutical industry, general press, scientific journals and patients' associations), and to detect inappropriate medical content. A total of 8829 original tweets were obtained, with a random sample of 25% of the total number of tweets for each drug (at least 100 tweets) analyzed. Methotrexate (MTX) accounted for a quarter of all tweets, and there were significant differences in the proportion of tweets issued according to the type of user. Patients and their relatives mainly tweeted about MTX, while professionals, institutions, and patient associations posted more about TNF inhibitors. In contrast, the pharmaceutical industry focused on IL-17 inhibitors. Medical content prevailed in all drugs except anti-CD20 and IL-1 inhibitors and the most discussed medical topic was efficacy, followed by posology and adverse effects. Inappropriate or fake content was found to be very low. In conclusion, the majority of the tweets were about MTX, which is a first-line treatment for several diseases. The distribution of medical content varied according to the type of user. In contrast to other studies, the amount of medically inappropriate content was very low.

Analysis of Tweets Containing Information Related to Rheumatological Diseases on Twitter.

BACKGROUND: Tweets often indicate the interests of Twitter users. Data from Twitter could be used to better understand the interest in and perceptions of a variety of diseases and medical conditions, including rheumatological diseases which have increased in prevalence over the past several decades. The aim of this study was to perform a content analysis of tweets referring to rheumatological diseases. METHODS: The content of each tweet was rated as medical (including a reference to diagnosis, treatment, or other aspects of the disease) or non-medical (such as requesting help). The type of user and the suitability of the medical content (appropriate content or, on the contrary, fake content if it was medically inappropriate according to the current medical knowledge) were also evaluated. The number of retweets and likes generated were also investigated. RESULTS: We analyzed a total of 1514 tweets: 1093 classified as medical and 421 as non-medical. The diseases with more tweets were the most prevalent. Within the medical tweets, the content of these varied according to the disease (some more focused on diagnosis and others on treatment). The fake content came from unidentified users and mostly referred to the treatment of diseases. CONCLUSIONS: According to our results, the analysis of content posted on Twitter in regard to rheumatological diseases may be useful for investigating the public's prevailing areas of interest, concerns and opinions. Thus, it could facilitate communication between health care professionals and patients, and ultimately improve the doctor-patient relationship. Due to the interest shown in medical issues it seems desirable to have healthcare institutions and healthcare workers involved in Twitter.

Repercusión de la desfinanciación de la vacuna antineumocócica en una población con recursos bajos / Impact of the underfunding of the pneumococcal vaccine in a low income population

Introducción: en junio de 2010, la Comunidad de Madrid incluyó en el calendario vacunal infantil la vacuna neumocócica conjugada tridecavalente. Por razones presupuestarias, se retiró de la financiación en julio de 2012 y hasta enero de 2015. Nuestro objetivo fue evaluar cómo influyó este hecho en la cobertura vacunal y en la incidencia de enfermedad neumocócica invasiva, neumonía y otitis media aguda en una población de recursos económicos bajos y compararlo con los mismos datos publicados para el conjunto de la región. Material y métodos: estudio de cohortes retrospectivo de los casos de enfermedad neumocócica y cobertura vacunal en los niños nacidos entre mayo de 2012 y octubre de 2014 del centro de salud Entrevías (Madrid, España). Resultados: se encuentra una menor cobertura vacunal (66%; IC 95: 57,3 a 71,4) respecto a la media de la Comunidad de Madrid (77%). No hubo casos de enfermedad neumocócica invasiva y la incidencia de neumonías y otitis fue independiente del estado vacunal. El único factor asociado a la incidencia de otitis fue la asistencia a guardería. Conclusiones: la desfinanciación de la vacuna neumocócica conjugada condicionó la disminución de la cobertura vacunal por debajo de la media regional en una población de bajos recursos. No se encontró aumento de incidencia de enfermedad neumocócica, probablemente debido a la persistencia del efecto rebaño o a un tamaño muestral insuficiente (AU)

Introduction: since June 2010 the Community of Madrid included in the childhood vaccination schedule the conjugate vaccine against thirteen pneumococcal serotypes. By budgetary reasons, it was with-drawn from the financing public system in July 2012 to March 2015. Our goal was to evaluate how it influenced vaccination coverage and the incidence of acute otitis media, pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease in a low-income population, and compare them with published data for the whole region. Methods and materials: retrospective cohort study of pneumococcal disease and vaccination rate in children born between May 2012 and October 2014, who are patients in the Health Center of Entrevias. Results: there has been a reduction in the vaccination coverage (66%, 95% CI: 57.3 to 71.4%) compared to the average of the Community of Madrid (77%). There were no cases of invasive pneumococcal disease, and the incidence of pneumonia and acute otitis media was independent of immunization status. The only factor associated to the incidence of acute otitis was the attendance to daycare center. Conclusions: the defunding of the conjugate vaccine against thirteen pneumococcal serotypes caused a decrease of vaccination coverage in children a low-income population. In this study we found no increased incidence of pneumococcal disease, a fact that may be due to the persistence of the herd effect or to an insufficient sample size (AU)