Abstract
Background
The use of online medical forums is on the rise globally. Data scraping is a method of extracting website content using an automated computer program. We scraped users’ questions regarding back and neck pain (BNP) from popular Israeli online medical forums. We aimed to identify the sort of questions being asked about BNP, and to analyze explicit themes that characterize their questions.
Methods
Six leading Israeli BNP forums were identified. In phase 1, Python scripts scraped 12,418 questions into a data set. In phase 2 ‐ five themes were identified: Surgery (n=2957); health care professions (n=2361); Sports (n=2304); drugs (n=1419); Interpretation of imaging (n=845). Phase 3 ‐ included the categorization of explicit fear‐related words by the authors. Phase 4 ‐ analysis of explicit fear‐related themes yielded 402 questions.
Results
Gender was identified for 394 users, and age was identified for 181 users. A total of 248 users (61.6%) were females and 146 males (36.3%). Mean age 36.3±16.15 for females and 35.5±16.1 for males. The most commonly expressed fears were related to: invasive procedures, 30.9% (131 questions); fear of serious condition or misdiagnosis, 17.0% (72 questions); General concerns, 13.7% (8 questions); fear of worsening or relapse, 12.3% (52 questions); adverse effects of oral drugs or radiation, 10.8% (46 questions); and concerns related to lifestyle, 9.7% (41 questions).
Conclusions
Web scraping is a feasible strategy with which to explore medical forums and the above‐mentioned themes, all of which are of potential clinical significance.
from Wiley: European Journal of Pain: Table of Contents https://ift.tt/2PgCkHC
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