Abstract
Background: Depression affects millions worldwide, with drug therapy being the mainstay treatment. A variety of factors, including personal reviews, are involved in the success or failure of medication therapy. This study looked to characterize the sentiment of online medication reviews of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and Serotonin–Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRIs) used to treat depression. Methods: The publicly available data source used was the Drug Review Dataset from the University of California Irvine Machine Learning Repository. The dataset contained the following variables: ID, drug name, condition, review, rating, date, and usefulness count. This study utilized a sentiment analysis of free-text, online reviews via the sentimentr package. A Mann–Whitney U test was used for comparisons. Results: The average sentiment was higher in SSRIs compared to SNRIs (0.065 vs. 0.005, p < 0.001). The average sentiment was also found to be higher in high-rated reviews than in low-rated reviews (0.169 vs. −0.367, p < 0.001). Ratings were similar in the high-rated SSRI group and high-rated SNRI group (9.19 vs. 9.19). Conclusions: This study supports the use of sentiment analysis using the AFINN lexicon, as the lexicon showed a difference in sentiment between high-rated reviews from low-rated reviews. This study also found that SNRIs have more negative sentiment and lower-rated reviews than SSRIs.
Highlights
The World Health Organization reports that over 264 million people are affected by depression [1]
This study supports the use of sentiment analysis using the AFINN lexicon, as the lexicon showed a difference in sentiment between high-rated reviews from low-rated reviews
This study found that Serotonin–Norepinephrine ReuptakeInhibitor (SNRI) have more negative sentiment and lower-rated reviews than Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
Summary
The World Health Organization reports that over 264 million people are affected by depression [1]. The 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health in the United States found that 3.7 million people aged 12–25 were being treated for depression, with 8.1 million in the same age group experiencing a major depressive episode in the last 12 months [2]. In adults age 26 or older in the United States, 13.1 million people suffered a major depressive episode in the last 12 months [2]. Depression is a disorder that affects many people worldwide, as well as in the United States. Another study found that patients were more likely to choose varenicline after being exposed to positive reviews of the medications [6]. Positive or negative patient experiences can influence adherence, thereby affecting treatment success. Reviews of medications can be found on sites such as Drugs.com® or
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
