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background. Post and comment content codes were categorized in an iterative manner with differences resolved by author consensus. Categorical statistics were compiled. Results: Two hundred posts and 456 comments were analyzed since the creation of r/eyetriage, a forum created exclusively for patients to seek advice from health-care professionals. Twenty-six (13%) of the total posts included an image. On average, comments received 1.76 ± 2.17 upvotes along with 4.50 ± 4.47 replies. The most common content codes among the posts were 42 (21.0%) seeking diagnoses, 23 (11.5%) surgical complications, and 13 (6.50%) alternative medication options. Eighty-two (41%) posts conveyed a clear emotional tone, most notably 11 (13.4%) with anxiety and 10 (12.2%) with worry. The top comments came from 165 (36.2%) self-identified patients, 151 (33.1%) optometrists, and 49 (10.8%) ophthalmologists. The top comment codes for replies included 158 (34.7%) with treatment advice, 70 (15.4%) with advice deferred to follow-up appointment with other health-care specialists, and 60 (13.2%) with sharing information. Conclusions: Patients are asking ophthalmology-related questions on the Eye Triage subreddit, and they are more likely to receive information from other patients or optometrists than from self-identified ophthalmologists. When emotions were revealed, patients were often anxious and worried. Opportunities exist for ophthalmologists to take a more active role on this subreddit and help educate patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Palliative care is known to improve patients' quality of life, but oftentimes these conversations occur outside of the health-care setting.Objectives: To characterize the #PalliativeCare Twitter network and evaluate the caregiver experience within palliative care.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 182,661 #PalliativeCare tweets by 26,837 users from June 1, 2015 to June 1, 2019 were analyzed using Symplur Signals. Analysis included activity metrics, content analysis, user characteristics, engagement, and network analysis. Similar metrics were performed on tweets by self-identified caregivers (482), who wrote a total of 3952 tweets. Qualitative analysis was completed on a systematic sample of caregiver tweets.Results: The number of #PalliativeCare tweets, users, and impressions has increased by an annual average of 18.7%, 16.4%, and 32.5%, respectively. Support, access, and patients were among the Trending Terms. About 39.4% of Trending Articles were scientifically valid, and information about palliative care and comorbidities had the greatest number of articles. The majority of users wrote five or less #PalliativeCare tweets. Network analysis revealed central hubs to be palliative care advocacy organizations and physicians. The five main themes from qualitative analysis of caregiver tweets were 1) advocacy and events, 2) care strategies, 3) resources, 4) public health issues, and 5) myths related to palliative care.Conclusion: The use of Twitter as a platform for palliative care conversations is growing rapidly. Twitter serves as a platform to facilitate #PalliativeCare conversation among patients, caregivers, physicians, and other healthcare providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]