Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37213188›Full record

ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2023

Cervical Myelopathy and Social Media: Mixed Methods Analysis.

Lior M Elkaim, Jordan J Levett, Farbod Niazi, Mohammed A Alvi, Nathan A Shlobin, Joseph R Linzey, Faith Robertson, Rakan Bokhari, Naif M Alotaibi, Oliver Lasry

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 20% 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

3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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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

10 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.

Lior M ElkaimDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-7500-8398
Jordan J LevettDepartment of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-1999-2017
Farbod NiaziDepartment of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-9896-1616
Mohammed A AlviDivision of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-7131-079X
Nathan A ShlobinDepartment of Neurological Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-2079-6125
Joseph R LinzeyDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Michigan, Detroit, MI, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-2849-5012
Faith RobertsonDepartment of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.ORCID 0000-0001-7723-9501
Rakan BokhariDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-4157-1830
Naif M AlotaibiNational Neuroscience Institute, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0000-0002-8227-347X
Oliver LasryDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-9276-9658
McGill University · CAUniversité de Montréal · CAHarvard University · USKing Fahd Medical City · SANorthwestern University · USUniversity of Michigan · USUniversity of Toronto · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDegenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a progressive neurologic condition caused by age-related degeneration of the cervical spine. Social media has become a crucial part of many patients' lives; however, little is known about social media use pertaining to DCM.

objectiveThis manuscript describes the landscape of social media use and DCM in patients, caretakers, clinicians, and researchers.

methodsA comprehensive search of the entire Twitter application programing interface database from inception to March 2022 was performed to identify all tweets about cervical myelopathy. Data on Twitter users included geographic location, number of followers, and number of tweets. The number of tweet likes, retweets, quotes, and total engagement were collected. Tweets were also categorized based on their underlying themes. Mentions pertaining to past or upcoming surgical procedures were recorded. A natural language processing algorithm was used to assign a polarity score, subjectivity score, and analysis label to each tweet for sentiment analysis.

resultsOverall, 1859 unique tweets from 1769 accounts met the inclusion criteria. The highest frequency of tweets was seen in 2018 and 2019, and tweets decreased significantly in 2020 and 2021. Most (888/1769, 50.2%) of the tweets' authors were from the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada. Account categorization showed that 668 of 1769 (37.8%) users discussing DCM on Twitter were medical doctors or researchers, 415 of 1769 (23.5%) were patients or caregivers, and 201 of 1769 (11.4%) were news media outlets. The 1859 tweets most often discussed research (n=761, 40.9%), followed by spreading awareness or informing the public on DCM (n=559, 30.1%). Tweets describing personal patient perspectives on living with DCM were seen in 296 (15.9%) posts, with 65 (24%) of these discussing upcoming or past surgical experiences. Few tweets were related to advertising (n=31, 1.7%) or fundraising (n=7, 0.4%). A total of 930 (50%) tweets included a link, 260 (14%) included media (ie, photos or videos), and 595 (32%) included a hashtag. Overall, 847 of the 1859 tweets (45.6%) were classified as neutral, 717 (38.6%) as positive, and 295 (15.9%) as negative.

conclusionsWhen categorized thematically, most tweets were related to research, followed by spreading awareness or informing the public on DCM. Almost 25% (65/296) of tweets describing patients' personal experiences with DCM discussed past or upcoming surgical interventions. Few posts pertained to advertising or fundraising. These data can help identify areas for improvement of public awareness online, particularly regarding education, support, and fundraising.

Indexed as

Social MediaSpinal Cord DiseasesAdvertisingCanadaHumansMass MediaUnited Statescaretakercervicalclinicianconditiondegenerativeeducationengagementmyelopathyneurologicalonlinepatientresearchersocial mediaspinesupporttweetstwitteruser

Identifiers

PMID37213188
PMCPMC10242472
OpenAlexW4366128182

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.