Baum, KatharinaBaumann, AnnikaBatzel, Katharina2024-10-302024-10-3020241867-0202http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12599-024-00875-6https://dl.gi.de/handle/20.500.12116/45334The field of healthcare is characterized by constant innovation, with gender-specific medicine emerging as a new subfield that addresses sex and gender disparities in clinical manifestations, outcomes, treatment, and prevention of disease. Despite its importance, the adoption of gender-specific medicine remains understudied, posing potential risks to patient outcomes due to a lack of awareness of the topic. Building on the Innovation Decision Process Theory, this study examines the spread of information about gender-specific medicine in online networks. The study applies social network analysis to a Twitter dataset reflecting online discussions about the topic to gain insights into its adoption by health professionals and patients online. Results show that the network has a community structure with limited information exchange between sub-communities and that mainly medical experts dominate the discussion. The findings suggest that the adoption of gender-specific medicine might be in its early stages, focused on knowledge exchange. Understanding the diffusion of gender-specific medicine among medical professionals and patients may facilitate its adoption and ultimately improve health outcomes.Diffusion of innovationsGender-specific medicineHealth dataSocial network analysisTwitterText/Journal Article10.1007/s12599-024-00875-6