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Novel psychoactive substances: An investigation of temporal trends in social media and electronic health records

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

A. Kolliakou ,
M. Ball ,
L. Derczynski ,
D. Chandran ,
G. Gkotsis ,
P. Deluca ,
R. Jackson ,
H. Shetty  and
R. Stewart
A. Kolliakou*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
M. Ball
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
L. Derczynski
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
D. Chandran
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
G. Gkotsis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
P. Deluca
Affiliation:
National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
R. Jackson
Affiliation:
Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
H. Shetty
Affiliation:
NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK
R. Stewart
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Biomedical Research Centre Nucleus, PO92, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel.: +00 44 0 20 32 28 85 61. E-mail address:anna.kolliakou@kcl.ac.uk(A. Kolliakou).
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Abstract

Background

Public health monitoring is commonly undertaken in social media but has never been combined with data analysis from electronic health records. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the emergence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in social media and their appearance in a large mental health database.

Methods

Insufficient numbers of mentions of other NPS in case records meant that the study focused on mephedrone. Data were extracted on the number of mephedrone (i) references in the clinical record at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK, (ii) mentions in Twitter, (iii) related searches in Google and (iv) visits in Wikipedia. The characteristics of current mephedrone users in the clinical record were also established.

Results

Increased activity related to mephedrone searches in Google and visits in Wikipedia preceded a peak in mephedrone-related references in the clinical record followed by a spike in the other 3 data sources in early 2010, when mephedrone was assigned a ‘class B’ status. Features of current mephedrone users widely matched those from community studies.

Conclusions

Combined analysis of information from social media and data from mental health records may assist public health and clinical surveillance for certain substance-related events of interest. There exists potential for early warning systems for health-care practitioners.

Keywords

Novel psychoactive substancesMephedroneElectronic health recordsSocial mediaPublic health monitoring
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 38 , October 2016 , pp. 15 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2016

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