Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
J Gen Intern Med. 2023 Nov;38(15):3283-3287. doi: 10.1007/s11606-023-08256-7. Epub 2023 Jun 9.
Fentanyl is a pressing concern in the current drug supply. Social media data can provide access to near real-time understanding of drug trends that may complement official mortality data.
The total number of fentanyl-related posts and the total number of posts for eight drug subreddit categories (alcohol, cannabis, hallucinogens, multi-drug, opioids, over the counter, sedatives, stimulants) were collected from 2013 to 2021 using the Pushshift Reddit dataset. The proportion of fentanyl-related posts as a fragment of total subreddit posts was examined. Linear regressions described the rate of change in post volume over time.
Overall, fentanyl-related content increased across drug-related subreddits from 2013 to 2021 (1292% increase, linear trend p ≤ 0.001). Opioid subreddits (30.62 per 1000 posts, linear trend p ≤ 0.001) had the most fentanyl-related content during the examined time period. Multi-drug (5.95 per 1000; p ≤ 0.01), sedative (3.23 per 1000, p ≤ 0.01), and stimulant (1.60 per 1000, p ≤ 0.01) subreddits also had substantial increases in fentanyl-related content. The greatest increases occurred in the multi-drug (1067% 2013:2021) and stimulant (1862% 2014:2021) subreddits.
Fentanyl-related posts on Reddit trended upward, with the fastest rate of change for multi-substance and stimulant subreddits. Beyond opioids, harm reduction and public health messaging should ensure inclusion of individuals who use other drugs.
芬太尼是当前药物供应中的一个紧迫问题。社交媒体数据可以提供对可能补充官方死亡率数据的药物趋势的近乎实时的理解。
使用 Pushshift Reddit 数据集，从 2013 年到 2021 年，收集了与芬太尼相关的帖子总数和八个毒品子版块（酒精、大麻、迷幻剂、多药、阿片类药物、非处方、镇静剂、兴奋剂）的帖子总数。检查了芬太尼相关帖子在总子版块帖子中的比例。线性回归描述了帖子数量随时间的变化率。
总体而言，从 2013 年到 2021 年，与毒品相关的子版块中的芬太尼相关内容有所增加（增加 1292%，线性趋势 p≤0.001）。在研究期间，阿片类药物子版块（每 1000 个帖子 30.62 个，线性趋势 p≤0.001）的芬太尼相关内容最多。多药（每 1000 个 5.95 个；p≤0.01）、镇静剂（每 1000 个 3.23 个，p≤0.01）和兴奋剂（每 1000 个 1.60 个，p≤0.01）子版块的芬太尼相关内容也有大幅增加。增加幅度最大的是多药（2013 年至 2021 年增加 1067%）和兴奋剂（2014 年至 2021 年增加 1862%）子版块。
Reddit 上与芬太尼相关的帖子呈上升趋势，多物质和兴奋剂子版块的变化率最快。除了阿片类药物，减少伤害和公共卫生信息传递应该确保包括使用其他药物的个人。
