Use of YouTube as an Information Source for Radioactive Iodine Therapy: Do YouTube Videos Have High Quality?

Abstract

Objectives: Radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy is a radionuclide treatment for hyperthyroidism and well-differentiated thyroid cancer. One of the most popular sources of information for patients on the internet is YouTube. This study aimed to examine the quality of videos about RAI treatment. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed by using videos in YouTube. The terms “radyoaktif iyot tedavisi” and “radioactive iodine treatment” were used to search related videos in June 2021. The quality of the videos was assessed by using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, the DISCERN scale, and the global quality scale (GQS). Results: Of the total 88 videos evaluated, 56 videos (30 in English, 26 in Turkish) were analyzed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Seven (12.5%) videos were assigned to the high-quality group, 16 (28.58%) to the intermediate quality group, and 33 (58.92%) to the low quality group. The findings of this study showed that the most popular videos with the highest video power index (VPI) scores and the highest number of video likes and comments belonged to the intermediate quality group. Contrarily, popularity level, number of video likes, and number of video views were the lowest in the high-quality group. The analysis of video sources revealed that viewers most preferred non-physician-sourced videos, with average total views of 59307.80 [standard deviation (SD): 122554.13]. The most liked videos were non-physician-made videos, with average total likes of 424.35 (SD: 639.41). The mean VPI scores were the highest in non-physician-made videos, with 25.18 (SD: 25.69). The average JAMA (1.92, SD: 0.50), DISCERN (34.31, SD: 14.33), and GQS scores (2.61, SD: 0.99) were the highest in physician-made videos. Conclusion: Although high-quality videos on YouTube may inform and encourage patients positively, unprofessional, incorrect, and incomplete information can be also uploaded on YouTube and may mislead patients.

YouTube as a source of patient information on positron emission tomography

“…For this purpose, content of medical videos may be evaluated with any of the parameters of JAMA, GQS and DISCERN. Studies have reported that there is a high positive correlation between these three parameters (18)(19)(20). In our study, significant positive correlations were found between JAMA score, GQS score, and DISCERN score.…”

“…In another study of Şan (19), YouTube videos related to 'radioactive iodine treatment' were evaluated. Similar to our study, the average number of comments, annual number of comments, number of likes, number of views, and VPI values of physician sourced videos were found to be lower than non-physician sourced videos.…”

“…This raises concerns about YouTube, which has significant potential in sharing medical information to public (5). In the literature, there are many studies that analyze the quality of the medical videos on YouTube (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). However, as far as we know, there is no similar study analyzing YouTube videos about PET/CT.…”

Radionuclide Therapy Videos on YouTube as An Educational Material: Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed the Quality, Usefulness, and Interaction Features

“…Also, we could not find a significant difference between educational and personal videos in terms of average duration, number of views, and number of comments. However, in the available literature, it has been reported that educational videos are generally of higher quality and almost always lower quality videos are more popular [ 16 , 19 , 20 , 22 , 24 , 30 , 36 , 40 ]. The only exception we could find is Duran et al‘s study on prostate cancer videos, in which no significant relationship was found between the quality markers (JAMA and GQS scores) and likes, comments, views, and VPI [ 33 ].…”

“…Topics of cancer-related videos that are studied are colorectal, bladder, prostate, pancreatic, oral, skin, cervical, larynx, thyroid, anal, breast, gynecological, and testicular cancer [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Besides these, glioblastoma treatment, cancer-related pain management, pediatric cancer clinical Fig.…”