Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 25;5(2):e34466.
doi: 10.2196/34466.

Contrasting Social Media Use Between Young Adults With Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Type 1 Diabetes: Cross-sectional Study

Susruthi Rajanala  1 , Jennifer K Wilson  1 , Paul D Mitchell  2 , Katharine C Garvey  3 , Laurie N Fishman  1
Affiliations

Contrasting Social Media Use Between Young Adults With Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Type 1 Diabetes: Cross-sectional Study

Susruthi Rajanala et al. JMIR Pediatr Parent. .

Abstract

Background: Social media is used by young adult patients for social connection and self-identification.

Objective: This study aims to compare the social media habits of young adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of subjects from Boston Children's Hospital outpatient IBD and diabetes clinics. Patients above 18 years of age were invited to complete a brief anonymous survey, which asked about the various ways they use several social media platforms.

Results: Responses were received from 108 patients (92.5% response rate), evenly split across disease type. We found that 83% of participants spent at least 30 minutes per day on social media, most commonly on Instagram and Facebook. Although the content varied based on the platform, patients with IBD posted or shared content related to their disease significantly less than those with T1D (23% vs 38%, P=.02). Among Instagram users, patients with IBD were less likely to engage with support groups (22% vs 56%, P=.04). Among Twitter users, patients with IBD were less likely to seek disease information (77% vs 29%, P=.005). Among Facebook users, patients with IBD were less likely to post about research and clinical trials (31% vs 65%, P=.04) or for information seeking (49% vs 87%, P=.003). Patients with IBD were also less likely to share their diagnosis with friends or family in person.

Conclusions: Young adults with IBD were less willing to share their diagnosis and post about or explore the disease on social media compared to those with T1D. This could lead to a sense of isolation and should be further explored.

Keywords: Facebook; Instagram; children; diabetes; inflammatory bowel disease; internet; social media; type 1; type 1 diabetes; young adult.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of in-person interactions by disease type. Weighted percentage and median (IQR) are shown for "select one response" questions with 2-group comparison by Jonckheere-Terpstra test, and weighted percentage for "check all that apply" questions compared with 2-group comparison by Rao-Scott chi-square test. IBD: inflammatory bowel disease; T1D: type 1 diabetes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association of time since disease diagnosis by (A) how often you think about your disease and (B) how often you discussed your disease with others. P value from Rao-Scott chi-square test after combining (1) weekly and rarely categories, and (2) <1 year, 1-2 years, and 3-5 years ago, to avoid table cells containing zeros.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Patient information seeking. Weighted percentage and median (IQR) shown for "select one response" questions with 2-group comparison by Jonckheere-Terpstra test, and weighted percentage for "check all that apply" questions compared with 2-group comparison by Rao-Scott chi-square test. IBD: inflammatory bowel disease; T1D: type 1 diabetes.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of information seeking by disease type. Reported are the weighted percentages and Rao-Scott chi-square test results. IBD: inflammatory bowel disease; T1D: type 1 diabetes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Maffi P, Secchi A. The Burden of Diabetes: Emerging Data. Dev Ophthalmol. 2017;60:1–5. doi: 10.1159/000459641.000459641 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chen X, Zhong L, Wen Y, Liu T, Li X, Hou Z, Hu Y, Mo C, Liu F. Inflammatory bowel disease-specific health-related quality of life instruments: a systematic review of measurement properties. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2017 Sep 15;15(1):177. doi: 10.1186/s12955-017-0753-2. https://hqlo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12955-017-0753-2 10.1186/s12955-017-0753-2 - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mählmann L, Gerber M, Furlano RI, Legeret C, Kalak N, Holsboer-Trachsler E, Brand S. Psychological wellbeing and physical activity in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease compared to healthy controls. BMC Gastroenterol. 2017 Dec 12;17(1):160. doi: 10.1186/s12876-017-0721-7. https://bmcgastroenterol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12876-017-0... 10.1186/s12876-017-0721-7 - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Almadani SB, Adler J, Browning J, Green EH, Helvie K, Rizk RS, Zimmermann EM. Effects of inflammatory bowel disease on students' adjustment to college. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014 Dec;12(12):2055–62.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2014.03.032.S1542-3565(14)00526-6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fredette J, Mawn B, Hood K, Fain J. Quality of Life of College Students Living With Type 1 Diabetes: A Qualitative View. West J Nurs Res. 2016 Dec;38(12):1595–1610. doi: 10.1177/0193945916651265.0193945916651265 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources