DESCRIBING THE DIGITAL HEALTH FOOTPRINTS OR “SOCIOMES” OF ASTHMA ON TWITTER

Abstract

SESSION TITLE: Tuesday Abstract Posters SESSION TYPE: Original Investigation Posters PRESENTED ON: 10/22/2019 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM PURPOSE: To describe the digital health footprint, or “sociome”, of healthcare stakeholders on Twitter surrounding the hashtag #asthma. METHODS: Monthly usage patterns of tweets containing the hashtag #asthma were collected using Symplur Signals (Symplur, LLC). Characteristics of usage were collected for four different stakeholder groups: clinicians, patients, healthcare organizations, and industry. Characteristics of the tweets were also examined. RESULTS: Between April 2015-November 2018, there were 695,980 tweets containing the hashtag #asthma by 308,370 users resulting in 3.5 billion impressions. Of identifiable stakeholders, clinicians were responsible for 16% of tweets, 14% of users, and 10% of impressions. Patients were responsible for 9% of tweets, 9% of users, and 9% of impressions. Healthcare organizations were responsible for 22% of tweets, 13% of users and 31% of impressions. Industry was responsible for 0.3% of overall tweets, 0.2% of users, and 3% of impressions. Although the reach of clinicians was similar to that of patients, clinicians tweeted more often than patients (2,471 ± 723 vs 1,352 ± 477 tweets/month; p<0.0001) and there were more monthly clinician users than patients (986 ± 203 vs 644 ± 191; p<0.0001). There were significant differences in the characteristics of the tweets in the stakeholder groups. Compared to patients, clinicians had a higher percentage of tweets with mentions, a lower percentage of replies, and a higher average positive sentiment in the tweets. Healthcare organizations and industry less commonly mentioned other users compared to patients and clinicians. Healthcare organizations more commonly tweeted with links, while industry more commonly used media compared to the other groups. When examining trends in the timing of tweets and impressions, there were significant spikes in tweets and impressions using the hashtag #asthma in April-May by patients and industry. Industry also had increased use of the hashtag #asthma in September while organizations had increased use just in May. The timing of tweets and impressions of clinicians were more random without a clear pattern. There were also significant differences in the top 10 terms & top 10 hashtags most commonly tweeted with the hashtag #asthma in the stakeholder groups, with only the term “asthma” and the hashtag #COPD used commonly in all groups. CONCLUSIONS: When examining digital health footprints of users tweeting about asthma, stakeholder groups using the hashtag #asthma have different sizes and frequency of tweets, and these groups tweet differently, at different times, and use different trending terms. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Defining “sociomes” or digital health footprints related to asthma is feasible and provides insight into these networks and conversations. Further exploration of these interactions may improve healthcare-related communication, and ultimately provide more patient-centered care. DISCLOSURES: No relevant relationships by Kristi Bruno, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Christopher Carroll, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Neha Dangayach, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Viren Kaul, source=Web Response No relevant relationships by Kathleen Sala, source=Web Response