What concerns consumers about hypertension? A comparison between the online health community and the q&a forum

Abstract

In this paper, the Biterm topic modeling method and comparative analysis were employed to identify consumers’ information needs on hypertension and their differences between the Online Health Community and the Q&A Forum. There are common information needs on both platforms but consumers on MedHelp discussed more about pathology and pharmacology, and mental health of hypertension than those on Quora. The results can help consumers, social media platform designers, and medical professionals better understand consumers’ information needs on hypertension.