title: Twitter response to the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendations against screening with prostate-specific antigen.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine public and media response to the draft (October 2011) and finalised (May 2012) recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing via Twitter, a popular social network with over 200 million active users.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a mixed-methods design to analyse posts on Twitter, known as 'tweets'. Using the search term 'prostate cancer', we archived tweets in the 24-h periods following the release of both the draft and the finalised USPSTF recommendations. We recorded tweet rate per h and developed a coding system to assess the type of user and sentiment expressed in tweets and linked articles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After the draft and finalised USPSTF recommendations were released, 2042 and 5357 tweets focused on the USPSTF report, respectively. The tweet rate nearly doubled within 2 h of both announcements. Fewer than 10% of tweets expressed an opinion about screening, and the majority of these were pro-screening during both periods. By contrast, anti-screening articles were tweeted more frequently in both the draft and finalised study periods. Between the draft and the finalised recommendations, the proportion of anti-screening tweets and anti-screening article links increased (P = 0.03 and P < 0.01, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was increased Twitter activity surrounding the USPSTF draft and finalised recommendations. The percentage of anti-screening tweets and articles appeared to increase, perhaps due to the interval public comment period. Despite this, most tweets did not express an opinion, suggesting a missed opportunity in this important arena for advocacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Vinay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Prabhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.|New York University Cancer Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Stacy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Loeb
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.|New York University Cancer Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Heather T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.|New York University Cancer Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lepor
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Penson
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.|Department of Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Healthcare System, New York, NY, USA.|New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Danil V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Makarov
mesh_terms: D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen
keywords: PSA; prostate cancer; screening; social media; task force