What Are Ophthalmology Patients Asking Online? An Analysis of the Eye Triage SubReddit

Abstract

Purpose : Ophthalmology patients are seeking medical advice on social media websites like Reddit, one of the top 5 most visited websites in the United States. Patients are able to post comments and discuss issues pertaining to different topics that are organized in ‘subreddits’. This study assessed content on the ‘Eye Triage subreddit’, founded in January 2019 for patients to seek advice from health care professionals.

Methods : In October 2019, the first 22 posts in each month of 2019 on reddit.com/r/eyetriage were assessed by two coders, along with their top three comments. The posts were characterized by date and time, inclusion of an image, type, content, emotional tone, and number of upvotes and reply comments. The reply comments were distinguished based on content, emotional tone, time of comment, and user background. Post and comment content codes were categorized in an iterative manner with differences resolved by author consensus. Categorical statistics were compiled.

Results : Two hundred posts and 456 reply comments were analyzed since the creation of r/eyetriage on January 27^th, 2019. About 99% of the posts were questions, along with 0.5% informative and 0.5% humor posts. Thirteen percent of the shared posts included an image. On average, comments received 1.76 ± 2.17 upvotes, along with 4.50 ± 4.47 replies. The most common content codes (Table 1) among the posts were seeking diagnosis (13.0%), surgical complication (11.5%), and alternative medication options (6.50%). 41% of posts conveyed a clear emotional tone, most notably anxious (13.4%) and worried (12.2%). The top comment tended to come from a self-identified patient (36.2%), optometrist (33.1%), or ophthalmologist (10.8%). The top comment codes for replies included treatment advice (34.7%), advice deferred to follow-up appointment with other health specialist (15.4%), or sharing information (13.2%).

Conclusions : Patients are asking ophthalmology-related questions on the Eye Triage subreddit, and they are more likely to receive information from other patients or optometrists than from self-identified ophthalmologists. When emotions were revealed, patients were anxious and worried. Opportunities exist for ophthalmologists to take a more active role on this subreddit and help educate patients.

This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.

 

The most common content codes among the posts were seeking diagnosis (13.0%), surgical complication (11.5%), and alternative medication options (6.50%).