Patients with PCOS may find support, information from Instagram content
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Instagram users are engaging content about polycystic ovarian syndrome from accounts dedicated to the topic, and patients can be encouraged to find support there, according to findings presented here.
“Most PCOS-related content shared on Instagram is motivational and related to health and wellness; physicians can encourage patients to use Instagram for support and gathering health information related to PCOS,” Janet Cruz, MD, minimally invasive gynecologic surgery fellow in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, Riverside, told Healio. “If physicians hope to spread awareness about gynecologic diseases, specifically PCOS, understanding that patients utilize social media to learn more about their condition, they can set up their own accounts putting out information and content that is medically accurate.”
Cruz and colleagues analyzed the five most used PCOS hashtags on Instagram over a recent 30-day period and identified 3,801 English language posts. The researchers reviewed the first 25 posts under each hashtag daily for 30 days for type of post, type of account based on user profile, post engagement measured by number of likes, and post category. Types of posts were pictures, videos or reels; user profiles were accounts dedicated only to PCOS, nutritionist accounts, physician accounts, lifestyle coaches or fitness trainers; and post categories were advertisements, motivational content and educational content.
The analysis found significant differences in the number of posts based on categories: 64.9% of posts were motivational followed by 29.7% that were educational and 5.4% that were advertisements. Researchers observed no significant difference in the number of posts by the five most used hashtags.
Motivational PCOS posts also had the most engagement on Instagram. In addition, the most engaging posts came from accounts that were dedicated only to PCOS (P = .006), such as PCOS-specific coaches, dietitians and nutritionists.
“It would be interesting to reexamine the content analysis to see if there are variations over longer periods of data collection and with more posts analyzed,” Cruz said. “Also, further research could analyze trends in PCOS content on other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.”
Collapse
Cruz J, et al. Instagram Cysters: What’s available on polycystic ovarian syndrome? Presented at: ASRM Scientific Congress & Expo; Oct. 22-26, 2022; Anaheim, California.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts