Geographic and demographic correlates of autism-related anti-vaccine beliefs on Twitter, 2009-15.

ABSTRACT: This study examines temporal trends, geographic distribution, and demographic correlates of anti-vaccine beliefs on Twitter, 2009-2015. A total of 549,972 tweets were downloaded and coded for the presence of anti-vaccine beliefs through a machine learning algorithm. Tweets with self-disclosed geographic information were resolved and United States Census data were collected for corresponding areas at the micropolitan/metropolitan level. Trends in number of anti-vaccine tweets were examined at the national and state levels over time. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model was used to determine census variables that were correlated with anti-vaccination tweet volume. Fifty percent of our sample of 549,972 tweets collected between 2009 and 2015 contained anti-vaccin

SUBMITTER: Tomeny TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5623105 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature