Patients’ and caregivers’ perceptions of bariatric surgery: A France and United States comparative infodemiology study using social media data mining

BACKGROUND: People are conversing about bariatric surgery on social media, but little is known about the main themes being discussed. OBJECTIVE: To analyze discussions regarding bariatric surgery on social media platforms and to establish a cross-cultural comparison of posts geolocated in France and the United States. METHODS: Posts were retrieved between January 2015 and April 2021 from general, publicly accessed sites and health-related forums geolocated in both countries. After processing and cleaning the data, posts of patients and caregivers about bariatric surgery were identified using a supervised machine learning algorithm. RESULTS: The analysis dataset contained a total of 10,800 posts from 4,947 web users in France and 51,804 posts from 40,278 web users in the United States. In France, post-operative follow-up (n = 3,251, 30.1% of posts), healthcare pathways (n = 2,171, 20.1% of the posts), and complementary and alternative weight loss therapies (n = 1,652, 15.3% of the posts) were among the most discussed topics. In the United States, the experience with bariatric surgery (n = 11,138, 21.5% of the posts) and the role of physical activity and diet in weight-loss programs before surgery (n = 9,325, 18% of the posts) were among the most discussed topics. CONCLUSION: Social media analysis provides a valuable toolset for clinicians to help them increase patient-centered care by integrating the patients’ and caregivers’ needs and concerns into the management of bariatric surgery.