Patient and Caregiver Information-seeking in Lung Cancer Treatment: A Real-world Sentiment Analysis of Reddit Communities.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death globally. This study investigated how lung cancer patients and caregivers discuss treatment experiences and seek information in online Reddit communities. We found prominent concerns and sentiment patterns across 1,214 posts from six lung cancer subreddits (June 2013-February 2024). Sentiment analysis used Valence Aware Dictionary for sEntiment Reasoning (VADER), a previously validated Python tool for social media, assigning compound scores from - 1 (most negative) to + 1 (most positive). Caregivers authored 59.88% of posts and patients authored 26.77%. Advanced-stage disease dominated discussions (76% of posts mentioning staging were stage IV). Treatment modalities included chemotherapy (25.21%), immunotherapy (12.60%), and radiation therapy (11.86%). Overall sentiment was positive in 53.79% of posts. Patients (0.22) and caregivers (0.15) had significantly more positive sentiment than medical professionals (-0.42) (p < 0.001). Primary concerns were quality-of-life impacts (21.50%), cancer progression or recurrence (18.86%), and treatment side effects (17.46%). The Reddit community appears to be a source of supplementary of support, with 59.14% sharing personal experiences and 16.72% seeking symptom validation. This work suggests a potential psychosocial value in peer-to-peer online support platforms for information-seeking in lung cancer treatment. Healthcare providers may consider integrating digital peer support resources into all aspects of cancer management from prevention to palliative care and during cancer care, to address concerns inadequately met in traditional clinical settings.