Managing Type 2 Diabetes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparison Between Literature and Social Media Data (Preprint)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted how people accessed health services and likely how they managed chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Social media forums present a source of qualitative data to understand how adaptation might have occurred from the perspective of the patient.

Our objective is to understand how the care-seeking behaviours and attitudes of people living with T2D were impacted during the early part of the pandemic by consolidating the literature and comparing the findings to those presented on a popular social media platform, Reddit.

A scoping review using the Arksey and O’Malley framework was conducted using keywords associated with diabetes, coronavirus, and behaviours. Several rounds of screening using predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria were conducted, after which studies were selected. Critical examination took place through a descriptive-analytical narrative method, and data extracted from the studies were classified into thematic categories. These categories reflect the findings of this study as per our objective. Data from the Reddit forums related to T2D from January 2018 to early March 2021 were downloaded, and Support Vector Machines (SVMs) were used to classify if a post was made in the context of the pandemic. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modelling was performed to gather topics of discussion amongst the entire dataset and a subsequent iteration was performed to gather topics of discussion specific to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sentiment Analysis using the VADER algorithm was performed to gauge attitudes toward the pandemic.

Themes found from the literature review were “poorer glycemic control”, “increased consumption of unhealthy foods”, “decreased in physical activity”, “inability to access medical appointments”, and “increased stress and anxiety”. Findings from LDA topic modelling of Reddit forums were “coping with poor mental health”, “accessing doctor & medications and controlling blood glucose”, “changing food habits during pandemic”, “impact of stress of blood glucose levels”, “changing status of employment & insurance”, and “risk of COVID complications”.

Topics of discussion gauged from the Reddit forums provide a holistic perspective of the impact of the pandemic on people living with T2D, which were found to be comparable to the findings of the literature review. Qualitative analysis of Reddit forms can supplement traditional qualitative studies of the behaviours of people living with T2D.