Patient-Reported Reasons for Switching or Discontinuing Statin Therapy: A Mixed Methods Study Using Social Media

Susan Golder (), Davy Weissenbacher, Karen O’Connor, Sean Hennessy, Robert Gross and Graciela Gonzalez Hernandez
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Davy Weissenbacher: University of Pennsylvania
Karen O’Connor: University of Pennsylvania
Sean Hennessy: University of Pennsylvania
Robert Gross: University of Pennsylvania
Graciela Gonzalez Hernandez: University of Pennsylvania

Drug Safety, 2022, vol. 45, issue 9, No 5, 981 pages

Abstract: Abstract Introduction Statin discontinuation can have major negative health consequences. Studying the reasons for discontinuation can be challenging as traditional data collection methods have limitations. We propose an alternative approach using social media. Methods We used natural language processing and machine learning to extract mentions of discontinuation of statin therapy from an online health forum, WebMD ( http://www.webmd.com ). We then extracted data according to themes and identified key attributes of the people posting for themselves. Results We identified 2121 statin reviews that contained information on discontinuing at least one named statin. Sixty percent of people posting declared themselves as female and the most common age category was 55–64 years. Over half the people taking statins did so for

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s40264-022-01212-0

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