ArticleBMC rheumatology2020
Insights on mental health when living with rheumatoid arthritis: a descriptive qualitative study of threads on the Reddit website.
Article in BMC rheumatology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Candidacy 2.0 (CC) - an enhanced theory of access to healthcare for chronic conditions: lessons from a critical interpretive synthesis on access to rheumatoid arthritis care.BMC health services research · 2024Pooled it
- Insights on supplement use during cancer care from online Reddit conversations.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Article
- "My world has shrunk": a mixed-methods exploration of the impact of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases on patients' lives.Rheumatology international · 2025Article
- Investigating Experiences With Scarring Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR dermatology · 2025Article
- Analyzing the Contents of a Large, Public Online Peer Support Forum for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Thematic Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Maintaining good mental health in people with inflammatory arthritis: a qualitative study of patients' perspectives.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2024Article
- First-hand accounts of structural stigma toward people who use opioids on Reddit.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- Thoughts and Experiences of Behçet Disease From Participants on a Reddit Subforum: Qualitative Online Community Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Mental toll on working women during the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory study using Reddit data.PloS one · 2023Article
- Mapping the complex everyday challenges and needs of people with rheumatic disease and their surroundings using a multi-actor approach.Musculoskeletal care · 2022Article
- Experiences of self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis: A qualitative study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- Getting "clean" from nonsuicidal self-injury: Experiences of addiction on the subreddit r/selfharm.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2022Article
- Article
- Effectiveness and safety of aerobic exercise for rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Studies of Depression and Anxiety Using Reddit as a Data Source: Scoping Review.JMIR mental health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundReddit is a highly visited social news and discussion website where individuals anonymously ask questions, post opinions and share experiences, which provide a valuable pool of publicly available data. Our objective was to systematically search and analyze threads on the social news website, Reddit, to understand experiences of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) regarding their mental health.
methodsWe conducted a patient-oriented descriptive qualitative study. We identified threads from two subreddits, "r/Thritis" and "r/Rheumatoid", using keywords such as "mood", "mental health", "stressed", "depressed", "anxious" over a 1-year period between June 2018 and June 2019. For included threads, we extracted the title, original post, and corresponding comments and responses. We applied thematic analysis using an inductive approach.
resultsOf 81 threads identified, we included 27. We identified four themes: 1) Navigating the management of RA explores how the physical impacts of the disease, lack of health resources/support and the complexity of medications affect mental health; 2) Experiencing impact on relationships and social isolation includes experiencing misconceptions of RA, feeling misunderstood and feeling guilt; 3) Experiencing loss, touches on the helplessness brought by challenges with performing self-defining activities such as self-care, work, and childbearing/parenting; and finally, 4) Experiencing emotional struggles captures how tension between fighting through and despair has led some to suicide ideation and thoughts of death.
conclusionsOnline forums and communities such as Reddit have created opportunities for individuals with RA to share experiences on mental health matters, which they may not necessarily be able to share with others.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.