Stanford Medicine researchers developed an AI algorithm to analyze Reddit posts regarding statins to understand patient perceptions. Of the 10,000 posts analyzed, 30% expressed negative views on statins, with many patients mistrusting the correlation between low-density lipoproteins and heart disease due to the popularity of the ketogenic diet. The researchers also noted a high level of misinformation in the posts, including the belief that red yeast rice supplements serve as valid alternatives to statins. However, knowing patients’ perceptions of medications can help clinicians counter false narratives.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, with ischaemic heart disease accounting for 16% of total deaths worldwide in 2019. Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are an effective and affordable treatment for the condition, but many patients do not use them. To better understand why patients might avoid statins, researchers from Stanford Medicine developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to gather and analyze Reddit posts referencing statins. The algorithm analyzed over 10,000 posts and found that 67% were neutral, 30% expressed negative views on statins, and 3% expressed positivity. The researchers also used the algorithm to divide the Reddit group discussions into topics such as ketogenic diets, diabetes, and statin hesitancy to gain specific information regarding the perception of statins. They found that a common reason for avoiding statins was the ketogenic diet. The AI algorithm showed that many patients who attempted the ketogenic diet reportedly felt very healthy, leading them to mistrust the correlation between low-density lipoproteins and heart disease.
The use of AI to gather information on healthcare misinformation is not new. In April 2021, a study published in JMIR revealed that a machine-learning algorithm could assist public health officials in exposing COVID-19-related conspiracy theories on social media, serving as a potential tool to limit the spread of misinformation online. Researchers used publicly available data from Twitter that allowed for the characterization of four themes surrounding COVID-19 conspiracies and provided context for each of them through the initial five months of the public health emergency.
Although the researchers acknowledged a potential negativity bias associated with Reddit, as people with negative reviews are more likely to post online, they noted that the findings align with those of previous studies. Prior research has indicated that 30 to 40% of patients who are prescribed statins do not use them as they are supposed to.
Internal medicine resident Sulaiman Somani, MD, a member of the team of Stanford Medicine researchers, noted that AI is beneficial as it helps researchers collect unknown information. “It makes a case for why AI is a good tool for this kind of research because it helped find these new topics that we weren’t expecting,” he said in a press release.
Through their research, the team also noted a high level of misinformation in the Reddit posts overall. For instance, many patients believe red yeast rice supplements may serve as valid alternatives to statins. These, however, would not have a significant impact on cholesterol levels. “There’s this idea that supplements are natural and better for the body, but we’ve done randomized control trials where we give individuals these over-the-counter supplements and see that they do not lower LDL nearly as effectively as statins,” said Fatima Rodriguez, MD, associate professor of cardiovascular medicine and a member of the team of Stanford Medicine researchers, in the press release.
Despite the findings that allude to high levels of ‘fake news’ surrounding statins, researchers acknowledged that knowing patient perceptions of medications can help clinicians battle these false narratives.
