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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Allergy
Sec. Asthma
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/falgy.2024.1378383
This article is part of the Research Topic Gaps in Asthma Care View all 5 articles

Assessment of Information Quality in the Largest Danish Facebook Group on Atopic Diseases: A Mixed Bag of Help and Harm

Provisionally accepted
Simon Høj Simon Høj 1Simon Francis Thomsen Simon Francis Thomsen 1,2Hanieh Meteran Hanieh Meteran 3Torben Sigsgaard Torben Sigsgaard 4Howraman Meteran Howraman Meteran 4,5*
  • 1 Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2 Department for Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Zealand, Denmark
  • 3 Department of Endocrinology, Hvidovre Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark
  • 4 Department of Public Health, Environment, Occupation, and Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
  • 5 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital- Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Patient education is an important part of the management of atopic diseases such as allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, and asthma. Given the increasing reliance on social media platforms like Facebook for health-related discourse, concerns about the accuracy and quality of shared information are paramount.The aim of this study was to categorize and assess the quality of the information shared within the largest Danish Facebook group focusing on atopic diseases.Method: A total of 652 posts and 7,515 comments were scrutinized, classifying each as useful, misleading, or neutral.The analysis predominantly identified discussions around asthma (40%), allergic rhinitis (21%), and eczema (5%), with the majority of queries posed by women and related to symptoms and medications. The results indicated that 11% of comments were deemed useful, whereas 12% we categorized as misleading, with the bulk of comments being neutral.Concerningly, 52% half of the comments promoting behavioral change were found to be misleading.Although, the Facebook group serves as a hub for peer support, its utility as a reliable educational resource is compromised. Overall, 12% of the comments was classified as misleading, while more than half of the advice encouraging behavioral change were misleading.

    Keywords: Asthma, atopic diseases, Dermatitis, Rhinitis, Social Media

    Received: 29 Jan 2024; Accepted: 18 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Høj, Thomsen, Meteran, Sigsgaard and Meteran. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Howraman Meteran, Department of Public Health, Environment, Occupation, and Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.