AUTHOR=Czernichow Sébastien , Rassy Nathalie , Malaab Joelle , Loussikian Paul , Mebarki Adel , Khadhar Mickail , Poghosyan Tigran , Fagherrazi Guy , Carette Claire , Schück Stéphane , Rives-Lange Claire 

TITLE=Patients’ and caregivers’ perceptions of bariatric surgery: A France and United States comparative infodemiology study using social media data mining

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Digital Health

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/digital-health/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2023.1136326

DOI=10.3389/fdgth.2023.1136326

ISSN=2673-253X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>People are conversing about bariatric surgery on social media, but little is known about the main themes being discussed.</p></sec><sec><title>Objective</title><p>To analyze discussions regarding bariatric surgery on social media platforms and to establish a cross-cultural comparison of posts geolocated in France and the United States.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Posts were retrieved between January 2015 and April 2021 from general, publicly accessed sites and health-related forums geolocated in both countries. After processing and cleaning the data, posts of patients and caregivers about bariatric surgery were identified using a supervised machine learning algorithm.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The analysis dataset contained a total of 10,800 posts from 4,947 web users in France and 51,804 posts from 40,278 web users in the United States. In France, post-operative follow-up (<italic>n</italic> = 3,251, 30.1% of posts), healthcare pathways (<italic>n</italic> = 2,171, 20.1% of the posts), and complementary and alternative weight loss therapies (<italic>n</italic> = 1,652, 15.3% of the posts) were among the most discussed topics. In the United States, the experience with bariatric surgery (<italic>n</italic> = 11,138, 21.5% of the posts) and the role of physical activity and diet in weight-loss programs before surgery (<italic>n</italic> = 9,325, 18% of the posts) were among the most discussed topics.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Social media analysis provides a valuable toolset for clinicians to help them increase patient-centered care by integrating the patients’ and caregivers’ needs and concerns into the management of bariatric surgery.</p></sec>