Dimitroyannis R, Fenton D, Cho S, Nordgren R, Pinto JM, Roxbury CR. A Social Media Quality Review of Popular Sinusitis Videos on TikTok.
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2024;
170:1456-1466. [PMID:
38431902 DOI:
10.1002/ohn.688]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Social media may inform health care decisions among younger patient populations. TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to post short-form videos. This study aimed to assess the quality of sinusitis-related videos on TikTok.
STUDY DESIGN
We searched TikTok on January 29, 2023, for sinusitis-related hashtags: #sinusitis, #sinus, #sinusinfection.
SETTING
Internet.
METHODS
The number of views/shares per day, uploader type (nonmedical influencer, lay individual, and medical professional) content categories (medical advice, marketing, comedy, and lifestyle/acceptability), and content type (educational vs factual) were collected. The Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audiovisual Material and Journal of the American Medical Association criteria score was used to measure understandability, actionability, and reliability. The Global Quality Scale (GQS) was used to evaluate the quality of videos; the harm/benefit score was used to evaluate causative effects. Analyses were performed using analysis of variance (α = .05).
RESULTS
There were 221 videos identified, which garnered over 300 million views and 1 million shares. Almost half of the videos were published by nonmedical influencers. When controlling for covariates, nonmedical influencers and lay uploaders were more likely to have harmful harm/benefit scores, less understandable videos, and lower GQS scores compared to medical professionals. Less than half of videos posted by nonmedical influencers categorized as educational were factual (46.7%); lay individuals and medical professionals had higher rates of factual educational content (79.9% and 83.7%, respectively).
CONCLUSION
Most nonmedical influencer-posted TikTok videos about sinusitis are inaccurate, despite being portrayed as medical advice/educational. Rhinologists must find modern ways to disseminate true disease-related content via social media to combat medical misinformation.
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