Clinicians' Reports in Electronic Health Records Versus Patients' Concerns in Social Media: A Pilot Study of Adverse Drug Reactions of Aspirin and Atorvastatin

Introduction Large databases of clinician reported (e.g., allergy repositories) and patient reported (e.g., social media) adverse drug reactions (ADRs) exist; however, whether patients and clinicians report the same concerns is not clear. Objectives Our objective was to compare electronic health record data and social media data to better understand differences and similarities between clinician-reported ADRs and patients' concerns regarding aspirin and atorvastatin. Methods This pilot study explored a large repository of electronic health record data and social media data for clinician-reported ADRs and patients concerns for two common medications: aspirin (n = 31,817 ADRs accessible in clinical data; n = 19,186 potential ADRs accessible in social media data) and atorvastatin (n = 15,047 ADRs accessible in clinical data; n = 23,408 potential ADRs accessible in social media data). Results We found that the most frequently reported ADRs matched the most frequent patients' concerns. However, several less frequently reported reactions were more prevalent on social media (i.e., aspirin-induced hypoglycemia was discussed only on social media). Overall, we found a relatively strong positive and statistically significant correlation between the frequency ranking of reactions and patients' concerns for atorvastatin (Pearson's r = 0.61, p < 0.001) but not for aspirin (Pearson's r = 0.1, p = 0.69). Conclusion Future studies should develop further natural language methods for a more detailed data analysis (i.e., identifying causality and temporal aspects in the social media data).