title: Drug Use in the Twittersphere: A Qualitative Contextual Analysis of Tweets About Prescription Drugs.
abstract: Tweets about prescription opioid use may reveal insights into the prescription drug epidemic. We qualitatively assessed 2,100 tweets about prescription opioids utilizing a Twitter Archiving Google Spreadsheet® and determined whether the tweet represented: abuse (i.e., use to get high), not abuse (i.e., use as analgesic), or was not characterizable (e.g., "I need a Percocet") and whether the connotation was positive (i.e. promote psychoactive or analgesic use), negative (i.e., adverse event), or not characterizable. Abuse was commonly described and the majority of terms (>66%) represented a positive connotation. Twitter can be a resource to observe trends in perceptions about prescription opioid use.
authors.affiliation: a New York Hospital of Queens , Flushing , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shutler
authors.affiliation: b New York University School of Medicine , New York , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Lewis S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: b New York University School of Medicine , New York , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Portelli
authors.affiliation: c New York University School of Medicine , New York , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blachford
authors.affiliation: d Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA.
authors.forename: Jeanmarie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Perrone
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D061108:Social Media
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D055553:Prescription Drugs
keywords: Twitter; prescription drug abuse; toxicovigilance