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. 2023 Feb 5:9:20552076231154377.
doi: 10.1177/20552076231154377. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

Temporomandibular disorders-related videos on YouTube are unreliable sources of medical information: A cross-sectional analysis of quality and content

Moon Jong Kim  1 , Ji Rak Kim  2 , Jung Hwan Jo  3   4 , Ju Sik Kim  5 , Ji Woon Park  3   4   6
Affiliations

Temporomandibular disorders-related videos on YouTube are unreliable sources of medical information: A cross-sectional analysis of quality and content

Moon Jong Kim et al. Digit Health. .

Abstract

Objective: The amount of online medical information available is rapidly growing and YouTube is considered as the most popular source of healthcare information nowadays. However, no study has been conducted to comprehensively evaluate YouTube videos related to temporomandibular disorders (TMD). So this study aimed to evaluate the content and quality of YouTube videos as a source of medical information on TMD.

Method: A total of 237 YouTube videos that were systematically searched using five keywords (temporomandibular disorders, tmd, temporomandibular joint, tmj, and jaw joint) were included. Included videos were categorized by purpose and source for analysis. The quality (DISCERN, Health on the Net (HON), Ensuring Quality Information for Patients (EQIP), and Global Quality Scale (GQS)) and scientific accuracy of video contents were evaluated.

Results: Total content, DISCERN, HON, EQIP, and GQS scores were 7.5%, 38.9%, 35.2%, 53.0%, and 48.6% of the maximum possible score, respectively. Only 69 videos (29.1%) were considered as "useful" for patients. News media, physician, and medical source videos showed higher evaluation scores than others. Quality evaluation scores were not significantly correlated or negatively correlated with public preference indices. In the ROC curve analysis, content and DISCERN score showed above excellent discrimination ability for high-quality videos based on GQS (P < 0.001) and total score (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: YouTube videos related to TMD contained low quality and scientifically inaccurate information that could negatively influence patients with TMD.

Keywords: DISCERN; YouTube; content assessment; global quality scale; temporomandibular disorders; videos.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow diagram of the screening and selection process of temporomandibular disorders related videos on YouTube.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for evaluation scores to discriminate good quality YouTube videos based on GQS (a) and total score (b). Content and DISCERN score show good discrimination ability for high-quality YouTube videos.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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