EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSATIONS ABOUT OBESITY AND GLP-1 TREATMENTS IN FRANCE BETWEEN 2016 AND 2026 : A SOCIAL LISTENING STUDY
Author(s)
Paméla Voillot, MS, MPH1, Manissa Talmatkadi, MS1, Mélanie Sambrès, MS1, Joelle Malaab, MS, MPH1, Amine Chouaki, MEng2, Safaa Mahdir, MEng1, Nathalie Texier, PharmD3, Stéphane SCHÜCK, MPH, MD2.
1KAP-CODE, Paris, France, 2Ultima-i, Paris, France, 3kappa Santé, Paris, France.
1KAP-CODE, Paris, France, 2Ultima-i, Paris, France, 3kappa Santé, Paris, France.
OBJECTIVES: GLP-1 receptor agonist treatments indicated for obesity have seen growing authorization and use in France since 2024. This study aimed to characterize, using social media data, the evolution of conversations among patients with obesity regarding these treatments, as well as the topics discussed by treated patients.
METHODS: This analysis is part of the Argo-Note surveillance program. The study was conducted on public French-language posts mentioning obesity or anti-obesity treatments, between January 2016 and June 2026. Message and unique-user volumes were compared before and after 2024, by source and by treatment. Topic modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) was applied to posts mentioning a GLP-1 treatment to identify patients' main concerns.
RESULTS: The total corpus comprised 359,095 posts written by 166,690 users. Posts mentioning a GLP-1 treatment accounted for 14,436 posts from 9,082 users, 84% published after 2024 versus 16% before. The daily frequency of posts on these treatments increased more than 5-fold since 2024, driven mainly by three molecules accounting for 80% of posts. TikTok became the leading source of conversation, with daily post volume increasing by more than 6,000% after 2024. Topic modeling of GLP-1-related posts identified seven main themes, dominated by treatment access (medical prescription) and supply shortages (22%), weight-loss outcomes and weight regain after discontinuation (22%), and adverse effects (13%).
CONCLUSIONS: Social media constitutes a rich source of information on the lived experience of patients with obesity, revealing a rapid and recent intensification of conversations around GLP-1 treatments, concentrated on a limited number of molecules and platforms (TikTok). Patients mainly express concerns about treatment access, the durability of results, and tolerability, insights that can help improve patient care.
METHODS: This analysis is part of the Argo-Note surveillance program. The study was conducted on public French-language posts mentioning obesity or anti-obesity treatments, between January 2016 and June 2026. Message and unique-user volumes were compared before and after 2024, by source and by treatment. Topic modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) was applied to posts mentioning a GLP-1 treatment to identify patients' main concerns.
RESULTS: The total corpus comprised 359,095 posts written by 166,690 users. Posts mentioning a GLP-1 treatment accounted for 14,436 posts from 9,082 users, 84% published after 2024 versus 16% before. The daily frequency of posts on these treatments increased more than 5-fold since 2024, driven mainly by three molecules accounting for 80% of posts. TikTok became the leading source of conversation, with daily post volume increasing by more than 6,000% after 2024. Topic modeling of GLP-1-related posts identified seven main themes, dominated by treatment access (medical prescription) and supply shortages (22%), weight-loss outcomes and weight regain after discontinuation (22%), and adverse effects (13%).
CONCLUSIONS: Social media constitutes a rich source of information on the lived experience of patients with obesity, revealing a rapid and recent intensification of conversations around GLP-1 treatments, concentrated on a limited number of molecules and platforms (TikTok). Patients mainly express concerns about treatment access, the durability of results, and tolerability, insights that can help improve patient care.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2026-11, ISPOR Europe 2026, Vienna, Austria
Value in Health, Volume 29, Issue 12S
Code
PCR113
Topic
Epidemiology & Public Health, Patient-Centered Research, Study Approaches
Topic Subcategory
Patient Behavior and Incentives, Patient-reported Outcomes & Quality of Life Outcomes
Disease
Diabetes/Endocrine/Metabolic Disorders (including obesity)