Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-30-2024
Keywords
kratom, social media analysis, topic mining, LDA, health benefits, adverse effects
Abstract
Background: Kratom is a substance that alters one’s mental state and is used for pain relief, mood enhancement, and opioid withdrawal, despite potential health risks. In this study, we aim to analyze the social media discourse about kratom to provide more insights about kratom’s benefits and adverse effects. Also, we aim to demonstrate how algorithmic machine learning approaches, qualitative methods, and data visualization techniques can complement each other to discern diverse reactions to kratom’s effects, thereby complementing traditional quantitative and qualitative methods. Methods: Social media data were analyzed using the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) algorithm, PyLDAVis, and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) technique to identify kratom’s benefits and adverse effects. Results: The analysis showed that kratom aids in addiction recovery and managing opiate withdrawal, alleviates anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, enhances mood, energy, and overall mental well-being, and improves quality of life. Conversely, it may induce nausea, upset stomach, and constipation, elevate heart risks, affect respiratory function, and threaten liver health. Additional reported side effects include brain damage, weight loss, seizures, dry mouth, itchiness, and impacts on sexual function. Conclusion: This combined approach underscores its effectiveness in providing a comprehensive understanding of diverse reactions to kratom, complementing traditional research methodologies used to study kratom.
Repository Citation
Wahbeh, Abdullah; Al-Ramahi, Mohammad A.; El-Gayar, Omar; Nasralah, Tareq; and El Noshokaty, Ahmed, "Health Benefits and Adverse Effects of Kratom: A Social Media Text-Mining Approach" (2024). All Faculty Scholarship. 24.
https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/pubs_faculty/24
Comments
Originally published as:
Wahbeh, A.; Al-Ramahi, M.; El-Gayar, O.; Nasralah, T.; Elnoshokaty, A. Health Benefits and Adverse Effects of Kratom: A Social Media Text-Mining Approach. Informatics 2024, 11, 63. https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics11030063
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).