Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27601271›Full record

ArticlePharmacoepidemiology and drug safety2016

Can social media data lead to earlier detection of drug-related adverse events?

Mei Sheng Duh, Pierre Cremieux, Marc Van Audenrode, Francis Vekeman, Paul Karner, Haimin Zhang, Paul Greenberg

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed
6.9field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 53 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Pharmacovigilance in the digital age: gaining insight from social media data.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2025
    Review
  3. Article
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  6. Artificial Intelligent Context-Aware Machine-Learning Tool to Detect Adverse Drug Events from Social Media Platforms.Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology · 2022
    Article
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  19. Using social media in safety signal management: is it reliable?Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2018
    Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Mei Sheng DuhAnalysis Group, Inc., Boston, MA, USA.
Pierre CremieuxAnalysis Group, Inc., Boston, MA, USA.
Marc Van AudenrodeGroupe d'analyse, Ltée, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Francis VekemanGroupe d'analyse, Ltée, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Paul KarnerAnalysis Group, Inc., Boston, MA, USA.
Haimin ZhangGroupe d'analyse, Ltée, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Paul GreenbergAnalysis Group, Inc., Boston, MA, USA.
Analysis Group (United States) · USGroup for Research in Decision Analysis · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTo compare the patient characteristics and the inter-temporal reporting patterns of adverse events (AEs) for atorvastatin (Lipitor

methodsWe identified clinically important AEs associated with atorvastatin (muscle pain) and sibutramine (cardiovascular AEs), compared their patterns in social media postings versus FAERS and used Granger causality tests to assess whether social media postings were useful in forecasting FAERS reports.

resultsWe analyzed 998 and 270 social media postings between 2001 and 2014, 69 003 and 7383 FAERS reports between 1997 and 2014 for atorvastatin and sibutramine, respectively. Social media reporters were younger (atorvastatin: 53.9 vs. 64.0 years, p < 0.001; sibutramine: 36.8 vs. 43.8 years, p < 0.001). Social media reviews contained fewer serious AEs (atorvastatin, pain: 2.5% vs. 38.2%; sibutramine, cardiovascular issues: 7.9% vs. 63.0%; p < 0.001 for both) and concentrated on fewer types of AEs (proportion comprising the top 20 AEs: atorvastatin, 88.7% vs. 55.4%; sibutramine, 86.3% vs. 65.4%) compared with FAERS. While social media sibutramine reviews mentioning cardiac issues helped predict those in FAERS 11 months later (p < 0.001), social media atorvastatin reviews did not help predict FAERS reports.

conclusionsSocial media AE reporters were younger and focused on less-serious and fewer types of AEs than FAERS reporters. The potential for social media to provide earlier indications of AEs compared with FAERS is uncertain. Our findings highlight some of the promises and limitations of online social media versus conventional pharmacovigilance sources and the need for careful interpretation of the results. © 2016 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Indexed as

AdultAdverse Drug Reaction Reporting SystemsAgedAtorvastatinCyclobutanesDrug-Related Side Effects and Adverse ReactionsFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPharmacovigilanceSocial MediaTime FactorsUnited StatesUnited States Food and Drug AdministrationAtorvastatinCyclobutanessibutramineadverse eventGranger causalityInternetpharmacoepidemiologypharmacovigilancesocial media

Identifiers

PMID27601271
PMCPMC5157765
OpenAlexW2507679269

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.