Bloom Brittnie E, Bragg Marie A, Jay Melanie R, Harel Daphna, Cline Camile, Crowe Matthew, Montoya Avery, Muthuramalingam Sandhya, Santana Roberto, Albert Stephanie L
School of Public Health, College of Health and Human Services, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States.
Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2025 Sep 4;27:e66400. doi: 10.2196/66400.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications, recently introduced in the United States for treating type 2 diabetes and obesity, have sparked interest and discussion on social media. Social media has emerged as a prominent platform for the distribution of health information; its vast user base and accessibility make it a popular resource for individuals seeking medical advice. This study characterized GLP-1 medication-related content on Instagram about 3 critical areas of public health: women's health, access from nontraditional settings, and barriers to access.
This study aimed to perform passive content analysis in which information patterns would be observed from Instagram posts.
We examined 40 GLP-1 medication-related Instagram posts to develop a list of the most frequently used hashtags. In total, 10 "top posts" were collected for 7 days (July 11-17, 2023) for 11 study hashtags (eg, #Ozempic). Duplicates, deleted posts or accounts, non-English content, and unrelated posts were removed. Each post was reviewed by at least 2 coders. Coding discrepancies were resolved through discussion.
The final sample included 239 posts. More than half of the posts (130/239, 54%) were from GLP-1 medication users. Raters perceived most users to be female (90/97, 92.8%); inferred that most used medications for weight loss (69/130, 53.1%); determined the most frequently noted health condition was polycystic ovarian syndrome (25/130, 19.2%); and judged posts to have positive sentiments about well-being (64/130, 49.2%) and toward the medications (100/130, 76.9%). About a quarter of the posts (55/239, 23%) offered services for obtaining GLP-1 medications; GLP-1 medications were perceived to be accessible via nontraditional health care settings (eg, medical spas) versus traditional settings (39/239,16.3% vs 12/239, 5%). Most users (78/97, 80.4%) were perceived to be White; barriers to access (ie, shortages, insurance, and cost) were infrequently mentioned (6/239, 2.5%; 3/239, 1.3%; and 1/239, 0.4%, respectively).
Our findings highlight the perceived benefits of GLP-1 medications for women's health, the need to increase health literacy about where to safely access medications, and how additional attention is needed for equitable access to GLP-1 medications. The onus is on social media companies to promote content that is safe and for the health care system and its payers to address health care inequities for historically marginalized communities.
胰高血糖素样肽-1（GLP-1）药物最近在美国被用于治疗2型糖尿病和肥胖症，这在社交媒体上引发了关注和讨论。社交媒体已成为传播健康信息的重要平台；其庞大的用户群体和易获取性使其成为寻求医疗建议者常用的资源。本研究对Instagram上与GLP-1药物相关的内容在公共卫生的三个关键领域进行了特征描述：女性健康、非传统环境下的获取途径以及获取障碍。
本研究旨在进行被动内容分析，从Instagram帖子中观察信息模式。
我们检查了40条与GLP-1药物相关的Instagram帖子，以列出最常用的主题标签列表。总共为11个研究主题标签（如#Ozempic）在7天内（2023年7月11日至17日）收集了10条“热门帖子”。重复的、已删除的帖子或账户、非英文内容以及不相关的帖子均被剔除。每条帖子至少由两名编码员进行审核。编码差异通过讨论解决。
最终样本包括239条帖子。超过一半的帖子（130/239，54%）来自GLP-1药物使用者。评分者认为大多数用户为女性（90/97，92.8%）；推断大多数人使用该药物用于减肥（69/130，53.1%）；确定最常提及的健康状况是多囊卵巢综合征（25/130，19.2%）；并判断帖子对幸福感（64/130，49.2%）和对药物（100/130，76.9%）有积极情绪。约四分之一的帖子（55/239，23%）提供获取GLP-1药物的服务；人们认为GLP-1药物可通过非传统医疗保健机构（如医疗美容中心）而非传统机构获取（39/239，16.3%对12/239，5%）。大多数用户（78/97，80.4%）被认为是白人；获取障碍（即短缺、保险和费用）很少被提及（分别为6/239，2.5%；3/239，1.3%；和1/239，0.4%）。
我们的研究结果凸显了GLP-1药物对女性健康的潜在益处、提高关于安全获取药物地点的健康素养的必要性，以及在公平获取GLP-1药物方面需要更多关注。社交媒体公司有责任推广安全的内容，而医疗保健系统及其支付方有责任解决历史上被边缘化社区的医疗保健不平等问题。
