Instagram Cysters: What information is available on Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome on Instagram

Objective: To study and categorize the content available to patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) on the Instagram social media platform and assess how post content relates to user engagement. Design: This is a retrospective content analysis, where the five most commonly used PCOS hashtags on Instagram were analyzed: #PCOS, #PCOSinfertility, #PCOSweightloss, #PCOSdiet, and #PCOSawareness. Only English language posts were included. For every hashtag, the first 25 posts were reviewed daily for 30 days. Posts were reviewed for: type of post (picture, video, reel), type of account by user profile (account dedicated to only PCOS, nutritionist account, physician account, lifestyle coach, fitness trainer), post engagement (measured by number of likes), and post category (advertisement, motivational content, including posts containing messages of support and encouragement for patients with PCOS, and educational content). Differences between number of posts by hashtag and category were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Post hoc analyses were done using Tukey’s HSD. All statistical analyses were done in R version 1.3.1093. Results: : A total of 3801 posts were recorded during the sampling period, with 5.4% (204 posts) categorized as advertisements, 29.7% (1130 posts) as educational, and 64.9% (2467 posts) as motivational posts. There was no significant difference in the number of posts by hashtag (F4,10=0.001, p=1.00). There was a significant difference in number of posts by category (F2,12=175.7, p<0.00), with motivational as the most posted category, educational the second most posted, and advertisements the least posted. Motivational posts were the most common and also had the most engagement. Regarding type of accounts, the most engaging posts were from accounts dedicated only to PCOS (TukeyHSD; p =0.006), which also included PCOS coaches’, PCOS dieticians’, and PCOS nutritionists’ accounts. Conclusion: Most PCOS content shared on Instagram is considered motivational and is related to health and wellness as the post was from fitness coaches, dieticians, and nutritionists. Accounts dedicated to PCOS were engaged with the most whether the content was educational or motivational. Given the high dedication to motivational and educational posts, patients with PCOS may be encouraged by physicians to use Instagram for support and information related to the disease.