Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2013 Mar;22(3):256-62. doi: 10.1002/pds.3365. Epub 2013 Jan 16.
While patients often use the internet as a medium to search for and exchange health-related information, little is known about the extent to which patients use social media to discuss side effects related to medications. We aim to understand the frequency and content of side effects and associated adherence behaviors discussed by breast cancer patients related to using aromatase inhibitors (AIs), with particular emphasis on AI-related arthralgia.
We performed a mixed methods study to examine content related to AI associated side effects posted by individuals on 12 message boards between 2002 and 2010. We quantitatively defined the frequency and association between side effects and AIs and identified common themes using content analysis. One thousand randomly selected messages related to arthralgia were coded by two independent raters.
Among 25 256 posts related to AIs, 4589 (18.2%) mentioned at least one side effect. Top-cited side effects on message boards related to AIs were joint/musculoskeletal pain (N = 5093), hot flashes (1498), osteoporosis (719), and weight gain (429). Among the authors posting messages who self-reported AI use, 12.8% mentioned discontinuing AIs, while another 28.1% mentioned switching AIs. Although patients often cited severe joint pain as the reason for discontinuing AIs, many also offered support and advice for coping with AI-associated arthralgia.
Online discussion of AI-related side effects was common and often related to drug switching and discontinuation. Physicians should be aware of these discussions and guide patients to effectively manage side effects of drugs and promote optimal adherence.
尽管患者通常将互联网作为搜索和交流健康相关信息的媒介，但对于患者在多大程度上使用社交媒体讨论与药物相关的副作用知之甚少。我们旨在了解乳腺癌患者在使用芳香化酶抑制剂（AIs）时讨论副作用及其相关服药依从性的频率和内容，特别强调与 AI 相关的关节痛。
我们开展了一项混合方法研究，以检查 2002 年至 2010 年间个人在 12 个留言板上发布的与 AI 相关副作用相关内容。我们使用内容分析法定量定义了副作用与 AI 之间的频率和关联，并确定了常见主题。两位独立的评估者对与关节痛相关的 1000 条随机选择的信息进行了编码。
在 25256 条与 AI 相关的帖子中，有 4589 条（18.2%）提到了至少一种副作用。留言板上与 AI 相关的副作用中最常被引用的是关节/肌肉骨骼疼痛（N=5093）、热潮红（1498）、骨质疏松症（719）和体重增加（429）。在自我报告使用 AI 的发布消息的作者中，12.8%提到停止使用 AI，而另有 28.1%提到改用 AI。尽管患者经常因严重关节痛而停止使用 AI，但许多人也为应对 AI 相关关节痛提供了支持和建议。
在线讨论 AI 相关副作用很常见，通常与药物更换和停药有关。医生应该了解这些讨论，并指导患者有效管理药物的副作用，促进最佳的服药依从性。
