ArticleAmerican journal of public health2015
When advocacy obscures accuracy online: digital pandemics of public health misinformation through an antifluoride case study.
Article in American journal of public health, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of Health Misinformation on Social Media: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- Determinants of Infodemics During Disease Outbreaks: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in public health · 2021Pooled it
- Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2019Pooled it
- From Evidence to Engagement: Understanding Online Resistance to Community Water Fluoridation for Public Health Communication-A Qualitative Study.Journal of public health dentistry · 2026Article
- Pro- and Antifluoride Use Messages on YouTube in Japan: Content Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- How the public's knowledge, attitudes, and practice intersect with scientific evidence about fluoride.Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care · 2025Article
- Acceptance of the use of silver fluoride among Brazilian parents of children with special health care needs.Frontiers in oral health · 2024Article
- Article
- Are socio-demographic and economic characteristics good predictors of misinformation during an epidemic?PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Geospatial analysis of misinformation in COVID-19 related tweets.Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England) · 2021Article
- [Contrasting Misinformation and Real-Information Dissemination Network Structures on Social Media During a Health Emergency].Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2021Article
- Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment: Misinformation on Pinterest, 2018.American journal of public health · 2020Article
- Contrasting Misinformation and Real-Information Dissemination Network Structures on Social Media During a Health Emergency.American journal of public health · 2020Article
- Citizens' Adherence to COVID-19 Mitigation Recommendations by the Government: A 3-Country Comparative Evaluation Using Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey Data.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- Public Health in the Information Age: Recognizing the Infosphere as a Social Determinant of Health.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- General population knowledge about osteoarthritis and its related risk factors in Jeddah Saudi Arabia.Saudi medical journal · 2020Article
- An assessment of fluoride related posts on Instagram.Health promotion perspectives · 2019Article
- The potential use of social media and other internet-related data and communications for child maltreatment surveillance and epidemiological research: Scoping review and recommendations.Child abuse & neglect · 2018Article
- Parents' attitudes towards topical fluoride and vaccines for children: Are these distinct or overlapping phenomena?Preventive medicine reports · 2018Article
- Containing health myths in the age of viral misinformation.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesIn an antifluoridation case study, we explored digital pandemics and the social spread of scientifically inaccurate health information across the Web, and we considered the potential health effects.
methodsUsing the social networking site Facebook and the open source applications Netvizz and Gephi, we analyzed the connectedness of antifluoride networks as a measure of social influence, the social diffusion of information based on conversations about a sample scientific publication as a measure of spread, and the engagement and sentiment about the publication as a measure of attitudes and behaviors.
resultsOur study sample was significantly more connected than was the social networking site overall (P<.001). Social diffusion was evident; users were forced to navigate multiple pages or never reached the sample publication being discussed 60% and 12% of the time, respectively. Users had a 1 in 2 chance of encountering negative and nonempirical content about fluoride unrelated to the sample publication.
conclusionsNetwork sociology may be as influential as the information content and scientific validity of a particular health topic discussed using social media. Public health must employ social strategies for improved communication management.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.