By Mark Sullivan 
Between 21 August and 20 September CREATION Pinpoint® tracked the online conversations of UK HCPs discussing respiratory diseases. Within this month-long date-range there were 2,307 posts about conditions ranging from asthma to COVID-19 from 1,075 HCPs in the UK. This was an average of 76.9 mentions per day, marginally less than the previous 3 months daily level of conversation. Within this conversation the most frequent poster was Pharmacist Garry McDonald, with 47 posts.
This month UK HCPs were most active on 06 September, posting about respiratory diseases 193 times. This corresponded to the ‘European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress’ which took place in Barcelona from 4-6 September. As can be seen in the chart above, UK HCPs discussed respiratory diseases far more frequently around this event. This is a common theme of congress and one of the many reasons why CREATION offers Congress Tracking to understand HCPs’ opinions, needs, and concerns about products and data during this time. An interesting thread which garnered attention from both HCPs and non-HCPs was from Pulmonologist Laura Jane Smith, who shared her thoughts on the health and climate impact of travelling to in-person congresses.
There is real value to in-person conferences & the experience is very different to online. But this has to be balanced against costs – financial & planetary. Individuals need to ask themselves if those costs are justified for each event #ERS2022
— DrLJ 💙 (@drlaurajane) September 6, 2022
Whilst the ERS congress generated the most conversation for UK HCPs, it was a post from Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, Charlotte Summers, which was shared by more UK HCPs than any other respiratory disease post this month. 31 UK HCPs shared the post which highlighted the dangers of misinformation and why context is so important to the statistics we see every day. Sam Porter, a Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist, used the same logic to satirise misrepresentation of statistics. Charlotte Summers discussed the changing landscape of respiratory care with a patient, as “practice always evolves as we learn”.
This is dangerous nonsense, spreads fear & cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.
People who received ventilation did so because they had severe respiratory failure & were going to die without it. Some survived, many did not. The ventilators did not kill them, COVID did. pic.twitter.com/k1UvpIZleO— Charlotte Summers (@charlot_summers) September 17, 2022
A world issue which has not been ignored by HCPs is that of the energy crisis, in fact many HCPs have shed light on the damaging impact to healthcare that an energy crisis would bring. GP Amir Khan spoke on Good Morning Britain about how children from colder homes are more likely to suffer mental health and respiratory problems. This was also raised at the ERS congress, where Nick Hopkinson shared a recent article surrounding socioeconomic factors and their impact on health and wellbeing, and concluded “Living in a cold, damp home and poverty are associated with more frequent acute exacerbations of COPD”.
Talking about the health effects of the #EnergyCrisis on families, children and young people on GMB today
Children from colder homes are more likely to suffer mental health problems, respiratory problems and alongside food price hikes, nutritional problems pic.twitter.com/392w2L6fyn
— Dr Amir Khan GP (@DrAmirKhanGP) August 26, 2022
Each month, we track the HCP conversation relating to respiratory disease.
You can keep up to date with this and other pharmaceutical tracking updates, including COVID-19 developments, within the Tracking section of CREATION Knowledge, or sign up to receive our monthly eJournal with all of our latest HCP insights.
If you would like to dig deeper into what we have seen this month then please do get in touch.
Methodology
- This article analysed the Twitter conversations of HCPs in the UK discussing respiratory disease and related terms between 21 Aug and 20 September 2022 using CREATION Pinpoint®.
- Between 21 Aug and 20 September 2022, there were 2,307 UK HCP mentions of respiratory disease and related terms, from 1,075 unique UK HCP authors.
View the latest Respiratory tracker here
