Regional variation in discussion of opioids on social media

Abstract

Background

New data sources and analysis methods are urgently needed to improve opioid surveillance and prevent potential overdose. Social media data is one potential data source that might be used and integrated to address this issue. Objective: This study explored opioid-related topics discussed across geographical regions of varying population sizes to determine whether social media data might inform opioid surveillance. Methods: Between March 17th to July 17th, 2020, we collected tweets (N = 19,721) mentioning opioid-related keywords across seven cities within the United States. Results: Results found that opioid-related keywords were distributed as follows: New York (29%), Los Angeles (23%), Chicago (18%), Atlanta (18%), San Francisco (8%), Iowa (3%), and Orange County, CA (1%). We also found regional differences in the types of opioids and topics mentioned. Conclusions: Findings suggest the feasibility of using opioid-related social media data to inform surveillance efforts, as well as potential regional and time-varying differences in topics discussed.

Keywords:

• Real-time data
• public health surveillance
• opioids
• drug consumption
• geographical locations
• Twitter data

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, under grant 5R01AI132030-05, as well as National Institute on Drug Abuse (1U2CDA050098), National Institute of Mental Health (5R01MH106415), and National Center for Complementary and Intergrative Health and National Institutes of Health (R61AT010606).