Patient forums discuss psychosocial and cognitive experiences at higher rates than clinical documentation
TUESDAY, July 21, 2026 (HealthDay News) — A systematic gap is seen in how menopause-related symptoms are shared in clinical settings and in online forums, according to a research letter published online July 14 in JAMA Network Open.
Tanya Mehta, from the University of California at Berkeley, and colleagues compared how menopause-related symptoms are discussed in user-generated online posts to how symptoms are documented in electronic health record (EHR) clinical notes. The analysis included a randomly selected sample of 2 million clinical notes and 999 all-time top posts from the Reddit menopause forum.
The researchers found that cognitive impairment, emotional well-being, and weight change were more frequent in online forum posts than in EHR clinical notes, while hot flashes and night sweats, hormone therapy treatments, lifestyle changes, sexual health, non-hormone therapy menopause treatments, herbal remedies, and uncategorized content were more documented in EHR notes than posts. For sleep disturbances, hormonal skin and hair changes, and bone and joint health, there were no significant differences between the sources.
“Online forums can complement clinical data by illuminating symptoms that patients may not disclose in clinical encounters due to social desirability bias, embarrassment, fear, or stigma,” the authors write.
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