Social media and sociodemographic characteristics associated with general health in breast cancer patients: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: little is known about social media (SM) use among breast cancer (BC) patients and their general health (GH). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of SM and sociodemographic characteristics associated with GH in BC patients during the treatment phases. METHODS: a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on BC patients at Shiraz University from December 2017 to August 2020. Data on clinical, epidemiological, and GH information were collected using a general health questionnaire (GHQ-28). Univariate analysis was performed to determine the impact of SM on GH. Additionally, multivariate logistic regression models [odds ratio (OR)] were performed to identify sociodemographic factors that affect the GH of BC patients. RESULTS: amongst the 353 individuals with BC, 339 (96%) were female. Their mean age was 48.98 ± 11.57 years. Two hundred and thirty (65.2%) patients used SM; the most frequent SM application was WhatsApp by 209 participants (59.2%). Univariate analysis showed a significant social dysfunction among SM nonusers compared to their users (6.68 ± 2.87 vs. 7.87 ± 3.22) and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). The use of SM for 3 hours or less was associated with less social dysfunction. However, the difference was not statistically significant (22.80± 12.48 vs. 25.21 ± 10.17, p =0.415). Multivariate logistic regression showed that using SM and working outdoors was positively associated with GH (OR = 0.68, 95% CI =0.29-1.59) and (OR =0.92, 95% CI = 0.54-1.57), respectively. However, female gender and use of chemotherapy were negatively associated with GH (OR = 2.96, 95% CI = 0.74-11.72, and OR =1.47, 95% CI = 0.83-2.57), respectively. Age, marital status, educational level, and disease duration were not statistically associated with GH. CONCLUSION: using SM and working outdoors directly and positively impact the behavior of people who have BC, while the female gender and those under chemotherapy were negatively associated with GH in BC patients.