Objective: The ubiquitous use of social media (SM) allows disease-specific insights to be obtained from publicly available sources. This study across 15 European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Nordic countries, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and UK), examined the needs/perceptions of patients with melanoma using SM listening (SML).

Methods: Data was collected retrospectively over a 2-year period (Nov 2018–Sep 2020) using melanoma-specific terminology. Manual and automated relevancy approaches filtered the extracted data for content that provided patient- and country-centric insights.

Results: Out of 864 total analyzed mentions of melanoma, Twitter was the primary channel across countries, with the exception of Austria and Germany where conversations on forums were preferred. Most discussions occurred in the UK (38%), Spain (16%), Italy (13%), Germany (11%), and France (11%). With the exception of Nordic countries and Switzerland, female-led discussions were more common overall (55%).

Treatment stage was the most frequently discussed topic of the patient journey across countries, except in Austria, Germany and Belgium where diagnosis and tests were more commonly discussed (75%, 72% and 43% respectively). Surgery and immunotherapy were the most frequently discussed treatments across all territories in both first- and second-line settings.

UK and Spain were the most prominent regions for discussions on quality of life, where stakeholders mentioned emotional burden as having the biggest impact on their lives (85%; n=74, and 41%; n=37, respectively), although in Spain, social impact was more heavily discussed (Spain, 49% vs UK, 7%). Availability of effective treatments and access to good healthcare practitioners (HCPs) emerged as the most prominent unmet needs in Italy and UK, while lack of communication with HCPs was a concern in Germany.

Conclusion: SML is a valuable tool in gathering evidence from patients and other stakeholders, which can be used to establish the heterogeneity of insights from across countries.