AI-driven credibility profiling of real-world patient experiences suggests overlooked kidney stone therapies warrant further investigation

AI-driven credibility profiling of real-world patient experiences suggests overlooked kidney stone therapies warrant further investigation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article AI-driven credibility profiling of real-world patient experiences suggests overlooked kidney stone therapies warrant further investigation Alfredo Parra Hinojosa, Daniel C. Elton, Andrés Gómez-Emilsson This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9388837/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Thousands of patients share their testimonials of kidney stone treatment efficacy online routinely, often with the hope of helping other patients understand what may help alleviate the severe suffering inflicted by the condition. Such testimonials generate vast data with potential hypothesis-generating insights that remain largely untapped. For this study, 4,899 publicly available online testimonials of nine different kidney stone products were collected across three different platforms: WebMD, Amazon, and Reddit. Using a state-of-the-art Large Language Model, these subjective reports were classified along multiple dimensions, focusing on reported effectiveness and rate of adverse effects. A methodology to minimize biases and extract statistically significant data from online testimonials is presented. Odds ratios and p-values were calculated using Phyllanthus niruri as the baseline. Phyllanthus niruri demonstrated significantly higher reported effectiveness across all platforms (27.6%–87.4%) compared to most other treatments, including allopurinol, tamsulosin, hydrochlorothiazide, and potassium citrate. On Amazon, Rowatinex showed the highest effectiveness rate (90.0%). Both Phyllanthus niruri and Rowatinex exhibited remarkably low adverse effect profiles across all platforms (3.9% and 4.5% weighted average, respectively), with Rowatinex notably reporting no severe adverse effects. The consistency of these findings across different platforms suggests that patient-reported outcomes for Phyllanthus niruri and Rowatinex may warrant further clinical investigation. The rising incidence and debilitating nature of kidney stones underscore the need for research into additional prophylactic and metaphylactic treatments beyond lifestyle interventions. Urology & Nephrology Kidney stones kidney calculi urolithiasis Phyllanhus Niruri nephrology Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9388837","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":621459222,"identity":"f1d8607a-71df-43f2-9a6d-a7fd40dc0df6","order_by":0,"name":"Alfredo Parra Hinojosa","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAuklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACdsYHDAxsDHIMDIwNRGphZjYAaTEmXUsiseoZGPibmdk+fCizSe+7fbiB4eOeWsJaJA4zM8+ccS4td+a5xAbGGc+OE2HNYf7DzLxth3M3nGFsYOY5cIywDnmgLcx/2w6nGxCtxQCkhbHtcAJUSw1hLYZALYw959IMZwK1HJxx4ABhLXLHm5kZfpTZyPOdYX/44MOBOsJaEOAAGB0mUQsQkGTLKBgFo2AUjBAAABxJOntIUuKuAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5096-0021","institution":"Qualia Research Institute","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alfredo","middleName":"Parra","lastName":"Hinojosa","suffix":""},{"id":621459248,"identity":"f3ac76e1-feaa-4e52-922a-2bb2a3e52244","order_by":1,"name":"Daniel C. 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Such testimonials generate vast data with potential hypothesis-generating insights that remain largely untapped. For this study, 4,899 publicly available online testimonials of nine different kidney stone products were collected across three different platforms: WebMD, Amazon, and Reddit. Using a state-of-the-art Large Language Model, these subjective reports were classified along multiple dimensions, focusing on reported effectiveness and rate of adverse effects. A methodology to minimize biases and extract statistically significant data from online testimonials is presented. Odds ratios and p-values were calculated using \u003cem\u003ePhyllanthus niruri\u003c/em\u003e as the baseline. \u003cem\u003ePhyllanthus niruri \u003c/em\u003edemonstrated significantly higher reported effectiveness across all platforms (27.6%–87.4%) compared to most other treatments, including allopurinol, tamsulosin, hydrochlorothiazide, and potassium citrate. On Amazon, Rowatinex showed the highest effectiveness rate (90.0%). Both \u003cem\u003ePhyllanthus niruri \u003c/em\u003eand Rowatinex exhibited remarkably low adverse effect profiles across all platforms (3.9% and 4.5% weighted average, respectively), with Rowatinex notably reporting no severe adverse effects. The consistency of these findings across different platforms suggests that patient-reported outcomes for\u003cem\u003e Phyllanthus niruri\u003c/em\u003e and Rowatinex may warrant further clinical investigation. The rising incidence and debilitating nature of kidney stones underscore the need for research into additional prophylactic and metaphylactic treatments beyond lifestyle interventions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"AI-driven credibility profiling of real-world patient experiences suggests overlooked kidney stone therapies warrant further investigation","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-17 12:42:59","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9388837/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"6f3c45b8-7f01-488f-9b06-a3ce0de2c3ce","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 17th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":66138158,"name":"Urology \u0026 Nephrology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-17T12:42:59+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-17 12:42:59","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9388837","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9388837","identity":"rs-9388837","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}