Victoria Vought, Rita Vought, Lyndon Zhu, Christopher Diaz, Aziz M Merchant
{"title":"Analysis of patient perspectives on bariatric surgery using an anonymous online forum.","authors":"Victoria Vought, Rita Vought, Lyndon Zhu, Christopher Diaz, Aziz M Merchant","doi":"10.1016/j.orcp.2025.06.002","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Bariatric surgery is utilized to treat morbid obesity in the United States. The study objective was to identify and analyze topics of interest on a popular social media platform used by bariatric surgery patients.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Online posts were obtained from the \"r/BariatricSurgery\" subreddit on Reddit.com. Posts were categorized by topic (Care Acquisition, Surgery-Related, Quality of Life Treatment Anxiety/Seeking validation for feelings) and author type. The sentiment analysis package Valence Aware Dictionary for Sentimental Reasoning (VADER) was then used to generate a compound score of the sentiment of each post. Posts with strongly positive sentiment (≥ 0.75) underwent word-frequency analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 486 posts were evaluated, mainly authored by patients (96.7 %). Most posts discussed Surgery-related topics (77 %), particularly post-operative content, followed by Quality of Life (64.8 %) topics. VADER sentiment analysis found an overall average score of 0.19, with 58.2 % of posts classified as Positive. The lowest sentiment was observed among posts discussing Co-management with Comorbidities (-0.16), while posts with the highest scores discussed Recreation/Occupation (0.88). Of note, Procedure Consideration (0.72) posts also had high sentiment. Frequently utilized words in positive reviews included \"surgery\" (p < 0.01), \"weight\" (p < 0.01), \"week\" (p < 0.01), \"month\" (p = 0.03), \"diet\" (p < 0.01), and \"help\" (p = 0.04).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>We found an overall positive sentiment, particularly among Quality of Life improvements for bariatric surgery patients. This may suggest an evolving perspective on bariatric surgery, as well as decreased stigma for those considering the procedure. Evaluations of patient perspectives online tangibly identifies areas of strength and room for improvement in bariatric surgery care.</p>","PeriodicalId":19408,"journal":{"name":"Obesity research & clinical practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Obesity research & clinical practice","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2025.06.002","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: Bariatric surgery is utilized to treat morbid obesity in the United States. The study objective was to identify and analyze topics of interest on a popular social media platform used by bariatric surgery patients.
Methods: Online posts were obtained from the "r/BariatricSurgery" subreddit on Reddit.com. Posts were categorized by topic (Care Acquisition, Surgery-Related, Quality of Life Treatment Anxiety/Seeking validation for feelings) and author type. The sentiment analysis package Valence Aware Dictionary for Sentimental Reasoning (VADER) was then used to generate a compound score of the sentiment of each post. Posts with strongly positive sentiment (≥ 0.75) underwent word-frequency analysis.
Results: In total, 486 posts were evaluated, mainly authored by patients (96.7 %). Most posts discussed Surgery-related topics (77 %), particularly post-operative content, followed by Quality of Life (64.8 %) topics. VADER sentiment analysis found an overall average score of 0.19, with 58.2 % of posts classified as Positive. The lowest sentiment was observed among posts discussing Co-management with Comorbidities (-0.16), while posts with the highest scores discussed Recreation/Occupation (0.88). Of note, Procedure Consideration (0.72) posts also had high sentiment. Frequently utilized words in positive reviews included "surgery" (p < 0.01), "weight" (p < 0.01), "week" (p < 0.01), "month" (p = 0.03), "diet" (p < 0.01), and "help" (p = 0.04).
Conclusion: We found an overall positive sentiment, particularly among Quality of Life improvements for bariatric surgery patients. This may suggest an evolving perspective on bariatric surgery, as well as decreased stigma for those considering the procedure. Evaluations of patient perspectives online tangibly identifies areas of strength and room for improvement in bariatric surgery care.
期刊介绍：
The aim of Obesity Research & Clinical Practice (ORCP) is to publish high quality clinical and basic research relating to the epidemiology, mechanism, complications and treatment of obesity and the complication of obesity. Studies relating to the Asia Oceania region are particularly welcome, given the increasing burden of obesity in Asia Pacific, compounded by specific regional population-based and genetic issues, and the devastating personal and economic consequences. The journal aims to expose health care practitioners, clinical researchers, basic scientists, epidemiologists, and public health officials in the region to all areas of obesity research and practice. In addition to original research the ORCP publishes reviews, patient reports, short communications, and letters to the editor (including comments on published papers). The proceedings and abstracts of the Annual Meeting of the Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity is published as a supplement each year.
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