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Language on Twitter Tracks Rates of Coronary Heart Disease

Language on Twitter Tracks Rates of Coronary Heart Disease | healthcare technology | Scoop.it
From www.psychologicalscience.org - January 21, 2015 9:00 PM

Twitter can serve as a dashboard indicator of a community’s psychological well-being and can predict county-level rates of heart disease, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of theAssociation for Psychological Science.


Previous studies have identified many factors that contribute to the risk of heart disease, including behavioral factors like smoking and psychological factors like stress.


Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania demonstrated that Twitter can capture more information about heart disease risk than many traditional factors combined, as it also characterizes the psychological atmosphere of a community.


The findings show that expressions of negative emotions such as anger, stress, and fatigue in the tweets from people in a given county were associated with higher heart disease risk in that county. On the other hand, expressions of positive emotions like excitement and optimism were associated with lower risk.


The results suggest that using Twitter as a window into a community’s collective mental state may provide a useful tool in epidemiology:

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Social Media Can Boost Disease Outbreak Monitoring, Study Finds

Social Media Can Boost Disease Outbreak Monitoring, Study Finds | healthcare technology | Scoop.it
From www.ihealthbeat.org - December 6, 2013 8:54 PM

Monitoring social media websites like Twitter could help health officials and providers identify in real time severe medical outbreaks, allowing them to more efficiently direct resources and curb the spread of disease, according to a San Diego State University studypublished last month in the Journal of Medical Internet Research,Medical News Today reports.


Study Details


For the study, lead researcher and San Diego State University geography professor Ming-Hsiang Tsou and his team used a program to monitor tweets that originated within a 17-mile radius of 11 cities. The program recorded details of tweets containing the words "flu" or "influenza," including:


  • Origin;
  • Username;
  • Whether the tweet was an original or a retweet; and
  • Any links to websites in the tweet.


Researchers then compared their findings with regional data based on CDC's definition of influenza-like illness.

The program recorded data on 161,821 tweets that included the word "flu" and 6,174 tweets that included the word "influenza" between June 2012 and the beginning of December 2012.


According to the study, nine of the 11 cities exhibited a statistically significant correlation between an uptick in the number of tweets mentioning the keywords and regional outbreak reports. In five of the cities -- Denver, Fort Worth, Jacksonville, San Diego and Seattle -- the algorithm noted the outbreaks sooner than regional reports.

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Drew Hodges's curator insight, February 19, 2015 5:50 PM

This is a cool article to show the real life change that social media is creating. Before it was stated that it would take up to two weeks to detect an outbreak of a disease but now with social media it can be done in a day. 

This article really shows how social media is becoming a part of our everyday life and is taking on roles that we probably didn't expect it to. 

However with the number of users increasing it is important to have tools that help us monitor the large amount of data that is present. 

Its no good having all this information if we cannot harness it's true potential, like the one illustrated in this article for disease break out.
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FDA Unveils Draft Guidance on Drugmakers' Social Media Use

FDA Unveils Draft Guidance on Drugmakers' Social Media Use | healthcare technology | Scoop.it
From www.ihealthbeat.org - January 16, 2014 3:34 PM

On Monday, FDA released draft policy guidance indicating that pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and distributors would not be held responsible for information posted on social media about their products by consumers or providers.


Background


According to Modern Healthcare, the pharmaceutical industry has been reluctant to use social media platforms because it lacked FDA guidance on how such platforms could be used without violating certain prohibited promotion.


For example, pharmaceutical firms were concerned about being held accountable for social media posts by clinicians or patients promoting off-label use of their products. In addition, drugmakers are required to disclose side effect information when promoting their products, but social media posts by third parties might not include such data.


Details of Draft Policy Guidance


In the draft policy guidance, FDA notes that such companies are generally not accountable for user-generated content that is "truly independent," meaning it was not produced or solicited by the companies.


The draft guidance also states that pharmaceutical companies are not responsible for content published on websites they financially support but do not control editorially.


In addition, such companies will not be held accountable for promotional materials found on third-party websites as long as the pharmaceutical firms did not direct the promotion's placement on the website and did not have any other control or influence over the site.


source: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2014/1/15/fda-unveils-draft-guidance-on-drugmakers-social-media-use

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A potrait of US adults living with Chronic Health Conditions

A potrait of US adults living with Chronic Health Conditions | healthcare technology | Scoop.it
From peasonline.wordpress.com - November 26, 2013 1:05 PM

45% of U.S. adults live with chronic disease 


Living with a chronic disease has an independent effect on people’s technology adoption and health behavior 

 

72% of U.S. adults living with chronic conditions use the internet 

 

7 in 10 track weight, diet, exercise routine, or symptoms 

 

 

67% of U.S. adults living with high blood pressure are internet users


69% of U.S. adults living with asthma or other lung conditions are internet users


56% of U.S. adults living with diabetes are internet users


59% of U.S. adults living with heart conditions are internet users


70% of U.S. adults living with a chronic condition other than those specified in the report are internet users.

 

Surprisingly, only 11% of U.S. adults living with one or more chronic conditions have consulted online rankings or reviews of hospitals or other medical facilities.


People living with chronic conditions are more likely than others to fact check with a medical professional what they find online

 

The findings of this report presents a great opportunity of engaging patients with chronic conditions using internet and social media


Via Parag Vora
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eMedToday's curator insight, November 26, 2013 7:23 PM

WOW
Marisa Maiocchi's curator insight, December 7, 2013 11:05 AM

Si bien las estadísticas pertenecen a los Estados Unidos, marcan una tendencia, que ya fue advertida por otros estudios (You share, We care). En América Latina tenemos que avanzar en e-Health porque los pacientes están ya en esa conversación!
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