Assessment of the Quality and Reliability of the Information on Rotator Cuff Repair on YouTube

Abstract

Introduction: YouTube® has become a common health information source for patients. Recent studies have determined that videos on YouTube® contain misleading and inappropriate information for different medical conditions. The aim of the present study was to assess the quality and reliability of videos pertaining to rotator cuff (RC) repair surgery.

Hypothesis: YouTube® users prefer watching videos with high educational quality which are provided by physicians.

Material and methods: A search was performed using keywords "rotator cuff surgery" and "rotator cuff repair" on YouTube® and the first 100 videos for each keyword were analyzed. Video source, time since upload, duration, and number of views, likes, and dislikes were recorded. Video popularity was reported using the video power index (VPI) and view ratio. Video educational quality was measured using the recognized DISCERN, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) score and a novel RC-specific score (RCSS).

Results: Among the 200 videos identified, 67 were included. The mean duration was 7.7minutes and the mean number of the views was 147,430. Videos uploaded by a physician had significantly higher DISCERN, JAMA, and RCSS (p<0.001). While the main video source was physicians (48%), the most popular videos were uploaded by patients and commercial websites, according to the VPI and view ratios. The number of likes, view ratios, and VPI were negatively correlated with each score. There were negative correlations between duration and VPI scores, and positive correlations with DISCERN, JAMA score, and RCSS. Animated videos showed significantly lower results for all quality scores (p<0.05), while their VPI was significantly higher (p<0.01).

Discussion: Online information on RC repair surgery provided by YouTube® was low quality, despite being mostly uploaded by physicians and having relatively higher quality scores. YouTube® users prefer watching low quality videos which were provided by patients and commercial websites.

Level of evidence: IV, Case series.

Keywords: Information; Internet; Patient education; Rotator cuff repair; YouTube.