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. 2022 Aug 31:16:2923-2931.
doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S375822. eCollection 2022.

Ophthalmology Inquiries on Reddit: What Should Physicians Know?

Amisha D Dave  1 , Dagny Zhu  2
Affiliations

Ophthalmology Inquiries on Reddit: What Should Physicians Know?

Amisha D Dave et al. Clin Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: Patients are seeking answers to personal medical questions on social media. Reddit, a popular social media site, has been overlooked as a source of data in the field of ophthalmology. We analyzed posts in the subreddit, r/Ophthalmology, to better understand the most common ophthalmic conditions patients are discussing online and how often those making posts are being advised to seek professional medical care.

Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed posts and comments from March 18, 2018 to November 9, 2020. All posts and comments on r/Ophthalmology are public and were accessed using the Python Reddit API Wrapper. This text was analyzed for unique references to common ophthalmic conditions and for mentions and recommendations to different types of medical care.

Results: Nine hundred and nineteen posts were collected from the above timeframe. An auto-moderator makes a comment on every post to discourage patients from asking personal medical questions. Despite this, over two-thirds of posts discussed medical treatment for eye conditions in either a post, comment, or both. Almost half of all posts mention "ophthalmology", but only 9% go as far as to recommend ophthalmic care. One-third of posts have no reference to medical care. Within posts, flashes and floaters were the most common condition mentioned, making up 15% of unique mentions, followed by glaucoma (7.4%) and retinal detachments (6.7%). Within comments, cataracts were most commonly discussed, making up 12% of unique mentions, followed by glaucoma (8.9%).

Conclusion: These findings show that patients are seeking information about their eye health on the r/Ophthalmology subreddit and that Reddit users are engaging with these types of posts, instead of recommending professional care in most cases. It is important for ophthalmologists to recognize the most common conditions patients are asking about online and learn how they can do a better job of educating their patients in the office.

Keywords: Reddit; common conditions; ophthalmology; patient education; social media; subreddit.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Data processing and analysis flowchart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
References to medical care in posts.
Figure 3
Figure 3
References to medical care in comments.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Top 20 ophthalmic conditions mentioned in posts.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Top 20 ophthalmic conditions mentioned in comments.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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