Joseph Coe, MPA, Director of Education and Digital Strategy for the Global Healthy Living Foundation, discusses his American College of Rheumatology Convergence 2022 presentation “Real-world evidence from social media provides insights into patient mental health outcomes in managing gout.” Coe and her team used artificial intelligence (AI) to provide insight into mental health outcomes in patients with gout.
“I’m not a classically trained researcher,” Coe explained. “And one of the best things that the Global Healthy Living Foundation does with our research is that we give different stakeholders the ability to participate in the research and its dissemination. With this particular study, I was able to take advantage of the experience I have in digital strategy and social networks.”
Coe and his team chose to focus on gout because they realized there was a tremendous opportunity to better understand a historically misunderstood disease. A machine learning program was used to detect common phrases and language used by the patients, both in private and public Facebook groups. They then investigated ways they could use that information to better help patients with gout in the feet.
“We found that gout patients, not to our surprise, were struggling with mental health issues and they were talking about it,” Coe said. “We hypothesize that there are some reasons why depression and anxiety overlap with gout. One possibility is that gout pain can cause emotional distress. Additionally, we’ve seen through this research, and through our work with CreakyJoints, that if gout is left untreated, it can cause tremendous flare-ups that can increase the likelihood of depression and anxiety.”
