Pre-operative concerns and post-operative satisfaction: comparing attitudes toward bariatric surgery and medication intervention for weight loss on Reddit.
Patients express distinct concerns about bariatric surgery and medication interventions, with higher anxiety reported before interventions. Online platforms can help clinicians understand these concerns better.
Where it sits
this study against the rest of the semaglutide corpusSummary and findings
This study analyzed user-generated content on Reddit regarding perceptions of bariatric surgery and medication interventions for weight loss. A total of 1500 posts and 45,972 comments were examined, revealing various themes and sentiments. Notably, pre-intervention posts indicated higher levels of anxiety and depression compared to post-intervention posts.
Abstract
Background Patient perceptions influence the success of bariatric surgery and pharmacologic weight loss therapies, yet many concerns never reach providers during clinic visits. Reddit, a popular online community, offers a window to explore these concerns outside clinical settings. We leveraged natural language processing (NLP) to compare user-submitted content across communities in surgical and non-surgical weight loss communities on Reddit. Methods We extracted the top 500 posts and all comments from three Reddit communities: /r/GastricBypass (/r/GB), /r/GastricSleeve (/r/GS), and /r/Ozempic. NLP libraries were used to quantify sentiment and subjectivity. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was used to perform topic modeling and identify themes. Significance was obtained with Kruskal-Wallis and chi-square (χ2) tests. A machine learning classifier categorized posts as pre- or post-intervention. Results 1500 posts and 45,972 comments were analyzed. Sentiment was largely neutral/positive (0.26 ± 0.35) and moderately subjective (0.48 ± 0.33). Comment sentiment was most positive in /r/GS and least in /r/GB (0.30 ± 0.33 vs 0.20 ± 0.31, respectively, P < 0.001). Post sentiment did not vary (P = 0.246). Five main themes emerged: eating behaviors/diet, weight loss progress, medication/medical issues, adverse effects, and support. Pain was the biggest adverse effect among surgical subreddits (24.3% within /r/GB and 16.8% /r/GS) compared to gastrointestinal (20.8%) and psychological (7.7%) symptoms in /r/Ozempic (P < 0.001). Most content was post-intervention (85.0%), and pre-intervention posts showed higher levels of anxiety and depression (4.0% vs 0.9%, P = 0.049). Conclusions Our findings reveal distinct patient concerns across weight loss intervention. NLP surveillance of online communities can help clinicians identify latent concerns, tailor counseling, and manage expectations.
Background
The paper addresses the growing interest in weight loss interventions, particularly bariatric surgery and pharmacotherapy, in online communities. Prior studies have indicated varying perceptions of these interventions, but little is known about the specific attitudes expressed in social media contexts. This study aims to fill that gap by analyzing discussions on Reddit.
Methods
Not reported in abstract.
Results
Not reported in abstract.
Interpretation
Not reported in abstract.
Key findings
- Not reported in abstract.
Limitations
- User-generated content may not reflect general population attitudes.
- No quantitative findings reported.
- Analysis based on social media discussions, which may be biased.