• Joshua Myszewski, Emily Klossowski, and Kristopher M Schroeder.
• School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA jmyszewski@wisc.edu.
• Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2022 Mar 1; 47 (3): 151-154.

IntroductionSentiment analysis, by evaluating written wording and its context, is a growing tool used in computer science that can determine the level of support expressed in a body of text using artificial intelligence methodologies. The application of sentiment analysis to biomedical literature is a growing field and offers the potential to rapidly and economically explore large amounts of published research and characterize treatment efficacy.MethodsWe compared the results of sentiment analysis of 115 article abstracts analyzed in a recently published meta-analysis of peripheral nerve block usage in primary hip and knee arthroplasty to the conclusions drawn by the authors of the original meta-analysis.ResultsA moderately positive outlook supporting the utilization of regional anesthesia for hip and knee arthroplasty was found in the 115 articles that were included for analysis, with 46% expressing positive sentiment, 35% expressing neutral sentiment, and 19% of abstracts expressing negative sentiment. This was well aligned with the conclusions reached by a previous meta-analysis of the same articles.DiscussionSentiment analysis applied to the medical literature can rapidly evaluate large collections of published data and generate an impression of overall findings that are aligned with the findings of a traditional meta-analysis.© American Society of Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

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