FB Posts Indicator of Mental Health and Diabetes

FaceBook posts can be a good indicator of a mental health of
a patient and also of diabetes, according to a new research done by Penn
Medicine and Stony Brook University Researchers.
The researchers used automated
data collection techniques to analyse Facebook posts of about 1000 patients who
had agreed to link their electronic medical data with the FB profiles. The
researchers examined the FB language used as well as demographics such as age
and sex to find links between social media posts and health of an individual.
The use of words 'drink' and 'bottle' were associated with alcohol abuse. Use
of religious language such as 'God' or 'Pray' was indicate of diabetes. Certain
use of word such as 'dumb' were likely to be associated with depressive
symptoms in a patient.
Analysis of FB posts can
indicate three months earlier than a formal diagnosis in a clinic whether one
suffers from depression. This finding illustrates the utility of using AI in
the field of medicine to understand patient behavior.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0215476
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