Abstract PO-035: Public social media discussion of COVID-19 in relation to cancer services disruption
Authors: Eade Damian , Galimam Laura , Fernández-Sierra Mónica , Gordon Caryn , McDonough Jason 
Published: December 2020

Online discussions have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as countries around the world established restrictive measures to limit the spread of the virus. Patients and carers have taken to social media to express concerns about challenges to access and disruption of diagnostic and treatment services and seek support and guidance on their prognosis. The goal of this report was to understand the online discourse around COVID-19 for key patient and caregiver audiences, specifically in relation to patients with cancer. Public social media conversations across the US and UK (English only) in relation to COVID-19 and cancer were evaluated to gather this information. Conversations were monitored for 1 week (April 30 to May 6, 2020) and filtered to focus on delays to cancer services. Initial analyses took place across all media channels followed by deep-dive analyses on Twitter and public forums. The online conversation around cancer in relation to COVID-19 is large and multifaceted. Although delays and cancellations to diagnostic services and treatment have undergone intense scrutiny in the media, social media have also seen significant conversation around the real-world implications for cancer patients and their families. The number of COVID-19-related cancer mentions in social media over 1 week was 111.5K. Of these cancer conversations, just over one-third (38K) were related to delays to cancer services. Discussions around delays to cancer services were seen across 10 of the most common cancers. Delays to cancer services are primarily being discussed on Twitter (31.1%) both by those directly affected and those interested in the implications for the health care system. A considerable amount of media reporting also drove the conversation, with online news (24.8%) and blogs (typically news media; 21.9%) highlighting the ongoing concerns about the effect of COVID-19 on future of cancer services and patient prognosis. Forums, typically comprising patients, carers, and others seeking advice and sharing concerns and frustrations around cancer service delays, made up a smaller share of voice (5.5%). There was a pronounced trend towards negative sentiment among conversations in public Facebook pages (49.7%), Twitter (46.3%), and forums (38.4%) regarding cancer service delays. Acute fear, anger, and helplessness were key drivers of negative sentiment in Twitter. Based on analyses of forum-specific conversations, the top COVID-19-related concerns associated with delays in cancer services are delays in cancer diagnostics, access to care (i.e., cancer surgery), and treatment decisions (especially undergoing treatment alone due to social distancing). COVID-19 has led to patients feeling increasing uncertainty about the future. Disruptions to cancer services and lack of clarity as to when these will resume cause patients to feel “abandoned” by their health care providers, frustrated that COVID-19 has overshadowed their battles with cancer, and scared of facing the treatment journey alone.

Citation Format: Damian Eade, Laura Galimam, Mónica Fernández-Sierra, Caryn Gordon, Jason McDonough. Public social media discussion of COVID-19 in relation to cancer services disruption [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer; 2020 Jul 20-22. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(18_Suppl):Abstract nr PO-035.