title: Social media in communicating health information: an analysis of Facebook groups related to hypertension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We studied Facebook groups related to hypertension to characterize their objectives, subject matter, member sizes, geographical boundaries, level of activity, and user-generated content.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a systematic search among open Facebook groups using the keywords "hypertension," "high blood pressure," "raised blood pressure," and "blood pressure." We extracted relevant data from each group's content and developed a coding and categorizing scheme for the whole data set. Stepwise logistic regression was used to explore factors independently associated with each group's level of activity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found 187 hypertension-related Facebook groups containing 8,966 members. The main objective of most (59.9%) Facebook groups was to create hypertension awareness, and 11.2% were created primarily to support patients and caregivers. Among the top-displayed, most recent posts (n = 164), 21.3% were focused on product or service promotion, whereas one-fifth of posts were related to hypertension-awareness information. Each Facebook group's level of activity was independently associated with group size (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.03), presence of "likes" on the most recent wall post (AOR, 3.55, 95% CI, 1.41-8.92), and presence of attached files on the group wall (AOR, 5.01, 95% CI, 1.25-20.1).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The primary objective of most of the hypertension-related Facebook groups observed in this study was awareness creation. Compared with the whole Facebook community, the total number of hypertension-related Facebook groups and their users was small and the groups were less active.
authors: Department of Public Health, General Directorate of Health Affairs in Tabuk Region, Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 16673, Tabuk-71474, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. E-mail: doctor.mamun@gmail.com.
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Al Mamun
authors: Department of Public Health, General Directorate of Health Affairs in Tabuk Region, Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors: Hamza M
authors: HM
authors: Ibrahim
authors: Department of Family Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors: Tanvir Chowdhury
authors: TC
authors: Turin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D061108:Social Media / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D060756:Social Networking; D012944:Social Support
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