YouTube as a source of information on COVID-19 and rheumatic disease link

Abstract

Introduction/objectives The current 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is continuing to spread rapidly despite all efforts. Patients with rheumatic disease may have higher levels of anxiety due to their disease characteristics and medications. The web-based platforms are widely used sources for gaining medical information. YouTube presents a wide range of medical information, but there are concerns on its quality. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the quality of the YouTube videos about COVID-19 and rheumatic diseases link. Method This is a descriptive study. A total of 360 videos listed by the YouTube search engine (www.youtube.com) in response to six search terms were evaluated. The Global Quality Scale (GQS) was performed to evaluate video quality. Three groups were formed according to GQS scores: high quality, moderate quality, and low quality. Video parameters were compared between these groups. Results After the exclusion criteria, 46 videos were reviewed. Of the videos, 41.4% (n = 19) were of high-quality group, 21.7% (n = 10) were moderate-quality group, and 36.9% (n = 17) were of low-quality group. Significant difference was detected between the quality groups in terms of views per day (p = 0.004). No significant difference was detected in comments per day (p = 0.139) and like ratio (p = 0.232). Conclusions Besides high-quality videos, there were substantially low-quality videos that could cause misleading information to spread rapidly during the pandemic. Videos from trustworthy sources such as universities, academics, and physicians should be kept in the foreground. Keywords COVID-19. Pandemic. Rheumatic diseases. SARS-CoV-2. YouTube Key Points •Web-based platforms have become an important source of health-related information. One of the most important online sources is YouTube because it is easy accessible and free. •Of the videos evaluating the link between COVID-19 and rheumatic diseases, 41.4% (n = 19) were of high quality. •The main sources of high-quality videos were academics/universities and physicians. •The most frequently discussed topics in videos were the place of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 and whether to continue the use of existing rheumatological drugs.

Characteristics of YouTube Videos in Spanish on How to Prevent COVID-19

“…In addition, the search terms were chosen by the authors on the assumption that a Spanish-speaking user would probably use one of them to perform simple searches on YouTube regarding COVID-19 prevention measures. The number of videos evaluated, although somewhat less than that used by some other authors (142) [ 37 ], is greater than that used in most studies of this type [ 6 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 17 , 19 , 31 , 34 ], in which less than 114 videos are usually included. In any case, our sample was sufficient to obtain accurate results (with narrow confidence intervals).…”

“…As in similar studies, videos publicly available on YouTube were assessed, and no human participants/animals were included. Therefore, Ethics Committee approval was not required for this study [ 19 ].…”

YouTube as a source of information on fibromyalgia

“…JAMA and DISCERN scores were found highest in videos uploaded by the physicians. In studies evaluating YouTube video content on different topics, videos uploaded by physicians, universities, and academic sources were found to be of higher quality and more reliable 24,29 . Also, it has been stated that online FM information sources had low quality and poor readability 8 …”

“…19 The total DISCERN score was calculated by summing up the first 15 questions. 20 It can be categorized as excellent (63-75), good (51-62), fair (39-50), poor (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38), and very poor (<27). 21,22 JAMA benchmark criteria were published in order to evaluate the quality of internet information on health care.…”

Moving towards online rheumatology education in the era of COVID-19

“…YouTube offers a variety of graphical materials on most rheumatology topics, exemplified by videos on tumour necrosis factor inhibitors and on secukinumab [38,39]. Variable quality videos are increasingly posted in the time of the pandemic [40]. Thus, all such materials require curating by experts.…”