Many patients ok linking social media to medical records

Pros and cons: A lot of logistical and ethical issues need to be worked out before patients start signing away access to social media accounts to doctors, say researchers.

Many people may be willing to link their social media accounts to their medical records, a US study suggests, a shift with the potential to improve care by giving doctors more insight into what makes patients tick. 

Facebook and Twitter have more than 1.5 billion users worldwide, many of whom share information daily, leaving digital breadcrumbs that might offer clues into the attitudes and activities that influence their health, researchers note in the medical journal BMJ Quality and Safety.