ArticleThe Journal of allergy and clinical immunology2019
Mining social media data to assess the risk of skin and soft tissue infections from allergen immunotherapy.
Article in The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Natural language processing in dermatology: A systematic literature review and state of the art.Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV · 2024Pooled it
- AI-Driven Topic Modeling and Sentiment Analysis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Discussions on Social Media: Cross-Platform Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Thematic Mapping and Evolution of Social Media Mining in Health Research: Hybrid Bibliometric Synthesis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Review
- Identifying and Reducing Stigmatizing Language in Home Health Care With a Natural Language Processing-Based System (ENGAGE): Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Using Clinician-Patient WeChat Group Communication Data to Identify Symptom Burdens in Patients With Uterine Fibroids Under Focused Ultrasound Ablation Surgery Treatment: Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- The applications of eHealth technologies in the management of asthma and allergic diseases.Clinical and translational allergy · 2021Review
- [Utilizing social media data in post-market safety surveillance].Beijing da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Peking University. Health sciences · 2021Article
- Identifying Urinary Tract Infection-Related Information in Home Care Nursing Notes.Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · 2021Article
- Health, Psychosocial, and Social Issues Emanating From the COVID-19 Pandemic Based on Social Media Comments: Text Mining and Thematic Analysis Approach.JMIR medical informatics · 2021Article
- Free-Text Documentation of Dementia Symptoms in Home Healthcare: A Natural Language Processing Study.Gerontology & geriatric medicineArticle
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAllergen immunotherapy (AIT) treatment for allergic rhinitis and asthma is used by 2.6 million Americans annually. Clinical and sterility testing studies identify no risk of contamination or infection from extracts prepared using recommended aseptic techniques, but regulatory concerns persist. Social media can be used to investigate rare adverse effects not captured by traditional studies.
objectiveWe sought to investigate large social media databases for suggestion of AIT skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) risk and compare this risk to a comparator procedure with a sterile pharmaceutical.
methodsWe analyzed US-restricted data from more than 10 common text-based social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit between 2012 and 2016. We used natural language processing (NLP) to identify posts related to AIT and, separately, influenza vaccination (comparator procedure). NLP was followed by manual review to identify posts suggesting a possible SSTI associated with either AIT or influenza vaccination. SSTI frequencies with 95% CIs were compared.
resultsWe identified 25,126 AIT posts, which were matched by social media platform to 25,126 influenza vaccination-related posts. NLP identified 4088 (16.3%) AIT posts that required manual review, with 6 posts (0.02%; 95% CI, 0.005%-0.043%) indicative of possible AIT-related SSTI. NLP identified 2689 (10.7%) influenza posts that required manual review, with 7 posts (0.03%; 95% CI, 0.007%-0.048%) indicative of possible influenza vaccination-related SSTI.
conclusionsSocial media data suggest that SSTI from AIT and influenza vaccination are equally rare events. Given that AIT's SSTI risk appears comparable to the risk using a sterile pharmaceutical based on social media data, current aseptic technique procedures seem safe.
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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.