The use of Instagram by gynecologic oncology providers as a patient education tool for patients at high-risk of gynecologic cancer

Social media outlets have increased in popularity within the last decade and are influencing the ways in which patients interact with the healthcare system. The objective of this study is to examine the presence of gynecologic oncology divisions on Instagram and to analyze the content of their posts. Secondary objectives included examining and analyzing the use of Instagram as a tool for patient education among people at increased genetic risk of gynecologic cancers. Seventy-one NCI-Designated Cancer Centers, their gynecologic oncology divisions and hereditary gynecologic cancer related posts were searched on Instagram. Content was reviewed and authorship was analyzed. Of the 71 NCI-designated Cancer Centers, 29 (40.8 %) had Instagram accounts, whereas, four (6 %) gynecologic oncology divisions had Instagram accounts. The search of the seven most common gynecologic oncology genetic terms yielded 126,750 posts with the majority under BRCA1(n = 56,900) and BRCA2 (n = 45,000) followed by Lynch syndrome (n = 14,700) and hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (n = 8,900). In terms of authorship, 93 (66 %) of all top 140 posts were written by patients, 20 (14.2 %) were written by health care providers and 27 (19.3 %) were written by “other.” This study highlights the lack of presence of divisions of gynecologic oncology at NCI-designated Cancer Centers on Instagram but does demonstrate the existence of active discussion on hereditary gynecologic cancers on Instagram by patients.