#Menopause: The Menopause Ontology Project

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction Medical professionals and patients increasingly utilize social media to connect and share healthcare information. Twitter is a popular social media platform with 186 million users in 2020 alone. Twitter users employ hashtags-terms or phrases proceeded by the “#” symbol-to aggregate data about related subjects. Hashtag ontologies are groups of hashtags used to standardize terminology and facilitate easier communication. Objective To create a hashtag ontology specific to menopause. Methods This study analyzed tweets including the hashtag #menopause between November 2019 and November 2021 to identify co-occurring hashtags related to menopause. Tweets performed by the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health, North American Menopause Society, International Menopause Society, and International Society of Sexual Medicine amongst others were included in analysis. To analyze hashtag utilization amongst all Twitter users, hashtags from the “Top” tweets Twitter search function from October 2021 were also analyzed. Co-occurring hashtags were recorded as well as the type of user who performed the tweet during the “Top” tweets analysis. The Society of Gynecologic Surgeons hashtag ontology was also reviewed as a cross reference and for completeness. Social media influencers and experts reviewed and edited the hashtag list. The hashtags were then grouped by subject and the ontology was finalized. Results We analyzed three-hundred eighty-two tweets with #menopause. Major societies produced 231 tweets and expert influencers produced 53 tweets. Using the “Top” tweets search function from October 2021, we identified 98 additional tweets. Of the users included in the “Top” tweets, 40% were patient advocates or advocacy groups; 38% were medical professionals, academics, societies, or journals; and 22% were general users. In total, 123 unique hashtags were identified. After social media influencer and expert review, 32 hashtags were included in the final ontology. The ontology was then grouped into the following categories based on subject matter: general, premature menopause, hormones, sexual function, and genital disorders. The finalized ontology appears in Table 1. Conclusions Social media is an important tool for medical professionals and patients. Our study is the first to develop a hashtag ontology specific to menopause. Adoption of a hashtag ontology with standardized terminology by medical professionals may facilitate easier communication with peers and patients. Disclosure No