Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37844803›Full record

ArticlePreventive medicine2023

Global prevalence and content of information about alcohol use as a cancer risk factor on Twitter.

Andy J King, Natalie M Dunbar, Drew Margolin, Rumi Chunara, Chau Tong, Lea Jih-Vieira, Cindy B Matsen, Jeff Niederdeppe

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Preventive medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. When Risk Is Invisible: Alcohol-Cancer Communication on Social Media.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Limited Awareness of Alcohol-Related Cancer Risk Factors among Spanish-Preferring Adults in a National US Survey.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025
    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

8 authors.

Andy J KingCancer Control & Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Department of Communication, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Electronic address: andy.king@utah.edu.
Natalie M DunbarGreenlee School of Journalism and Communication, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
Drew MargolinDepartment of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Rumi ChunaraDepartment of Biostatistics, New York University, New York City, NY, USA; Department of Computer Science & Engineering, New York University, New York City, NY, USA.
Chau TongDepartment of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Lea Jih-VieiraDepartment of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Cindy B MatsenCancer Control & Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Jeff NiederdeppeDepartment of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; Jeb E. Brooks School of Public policy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.

Funding

UTAH REGIONAL CANCER CENTERP30CA042014 · NCI · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · PI Jared P Rutter · 1986 to 2026
$72.6M
Using Natural Language Processing and Crowdsourcing to Monitor and Evaluate Public Information and Communication Disparities about Colon Cancer ScreeningR37CA259156 · NCI · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · PI Andy J King · 2021 to 2026
$2.3M
NCI NIH HHS P30 CA042014NCI NIH HHS R37 CA259156
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesAlcohol use is a major risk factor for several forms of cancer, though many people have limited knowledge of this link. Public health communicators and cancer advocates desire to increase awareness of this link with the long-term goal of reducing cancer burden. The current study is the first to examine the prevalence and content of information about alcohol use as a cancer risk on social media internationally.

methodsWe used a three-phase process (hashtag search, dictionary-based auto-identification of content, and human coding of content) to identify and evaluate information from Twitter posts between January 2019 and December 2021.

resultsOur hashtag search retrieved a large set of cancer-related tweets (N = 1,122,397). The automatic search process using an alcohol dictionary identified a small number of messages about cancer that also mentioned alcohol (n = 9061, 0.8%), a number that got small after adjusting for human coded estimates of the dictionary precision (n = 5927, 0.5%). When cancer-related messages also mentioned alcohol, 82% (n = 1003 of 1225 examined through human coding) indicated alcohol use as a risk factor. Coding found rare instances of problematic information (e.g., promotion of alcohol, misinformation) in messages about alcohol use and cancer.

conclusionsFew social media messages about cancer types that can be linked to alcohol mention alcohol as a cancer risk factor. If public health communicators and cancer advocates want to increase knowledge and understanding of alcohol use as a cancer risk factor, efforts will need to be made on social media and through other communication platforms to increase exposure to this information over time.

Indexed as

NeoplasmsSocial MediaHumansPrevalencePublic HealthRisk FactorsAlcohol useCancerCancer controlCancer preventionHealth communicationPublic communication environmentRisk communicationSocial media

Identifiers

PMID37844803
PMCPMC10872596

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
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.