Assessment of health information in Chinese atopic dermatitis-related videos: A cross-sectional study
Gongrui Yang, X Y Li, Xingwu Duan
Abstract
Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is prevalent worldwide. People are increasingly obtaining health information through social videos. In China, the quality, reliability, understandability, and actionability of AD-related videos have yet to be fully studied. Objective This study proposed to analyze AD-related videos on Chinese video-sharing platforms. Methods Three keywords “特应性皮炎” (atopic dermatitis) or “湿疹” (eczema) or “特应性湿疹” (atopic eczema) were used on Bilibili and Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) to retrieve videos from May 25 to November 25, 2024. Included videos’ reliability was evaluated by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria and modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), quality was evaluated by Global Quality Scale (GQS), and understandability and actionability were evaluated by Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT). Spearman correlation was used to explore the correlation among different variables. Results 368 videos were included, and the activity on Douyin was higher than that on Bilibili ( P < .001). Although Douyin's AD videos were rated higher than Bilibili's in reliability and understandability (all P < .001), neither of them was satisfactory. Medical practitioners were the main source of videos ( n = 326, 88.59%), mostly conveying treatment ( n = 159, 43.21%). The videos they uploaded had higher ratings in the JAMA, mDISCERN and understandability, and were also more popular (all P < .05). There were more videos on Bilibili that involved traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ( n = 81, 52.60%); however, the ratings of such videos were lower than those without TCM on any platform (all P < .001). Videos about treatment and prevention were almost the best two categories in terms of actionability (all P < .05). The number of likes, shares, comments, collections, fans, the JAMA score, and understandability were positively correlated (all P < .05). Conclusions The assessment of AD-related videos flooding social media is suboptimal. Videos from professionals are more reliable and should be promoted. The public should exercise caution when searching for healthcare information on video platforms.