TY - JOUR
T1 - Quality of Information in YouTube Videos on Erectile Dysfunction
AU - Fode, Mikkel
AU - Nolsøe, Alexander B.
AU - Jacobsen, Frederik M.
AU - Russo, Giorgio Ivan
AU - Østergren, Peter B.
AU - Jensen, Christian Fuglesang S.
AU - Albersen, Maarten
AU - Capogrosso, Paolo
AU - Sønksen, Jens
AU - EAU YAU Men's Health Working Group
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Introduction: Many patients seek information online including on social media. Aim: To assess the quality of information regarding erectile dysfunction (ED) in YouTube videos. Methods: We searched “erectile dysfunction” on YouTube in October 2019 and evaluated the first 100 videos in English sorted by relevance. Main Outcome Measure: We recorded the user engagement, video producer, intended audience, and content. Videos containing medical information were evaluated using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and the DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information. The PEMAT evaluates the understandability and actionability of materials as a percentage. The DISCERN assesses the quality of information by a scale from 1 (serious or extensive shortcomings) to 5 (minimal shortcomings). Results: The median number of total views was 22,450 (range 591–20,255,133) and the median number of views/month was 654 (range 9–723,398). 42 percent of the videos were posted by professional medical institutions, and 21% were posted by individual medical professionals. Most videos were aimed at the general public or patients suffering from ED. The median PEMAT understandability and actionability scores were both 100% (range 50–100% and 33–100%, respectively). The median DISCERN score was 2 (range 1-5) with 80.4% receiving a score of ≤3. Overall, 28% of the videos contained direct misinformation. DISCERN scores were higher in videos produced by medical institutions (P = .0104), not selling specific products (P = .007) and not promoting alternative medicine (P = .0002). The number of subscribers was an independent predictor of views/month (P < .0001). Conclusion: Patients may be exposed to videos of poor quality when searching for information about ED on YouTube. The medical community needs to adapt a strategy to improve the quality of online medical information. Fode M, Nolsøe AB, Jacobsen FM, et al. Quality of Information in YouTube Videos on Erectile Dysfunction. J Sex Med 2020;8:408–413.
AB - Introduction: Many patients seek information online including on social media. Aim: To assess the quality of information regarding erectile dysfunction (ED) in YouTube videos. Methods: We searched “erectile dysfunction” on YouTube in October 2019 and evaluated the first 100 videos in English sorted by relevance. Main Outcome Measure: We recorded the user engagement, video producer, intended audience, and content. Videos containing medical information were evaluated using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and the DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information. The PEMAT evaluates the understandability and actionability of materials as a percentage. The DISCERN assesses the quality of information by a scale from 1 (serious or extensive shortcomings) to 5 (minimal shortcomings). Results: The median number of total views was 22,450 (range 591–20,255,133) and the median number of views/month was 654 (range 9–723,398). 42 percent of the videos were posted by professional medical institutions, and 21% were posted by individual medical professionals. Most videos were aimed at the general public or patients suffering from ED. The median PEMAT understandability and actionability scores were both 100% (range 50–100% and 33–100%, respectively). The median DISCERN score was 2 (range 1-5) with 80.4% receiving a score of ≤3. Overall, 28% of the videos contained direct misinformation. DISCERN scores were higher in videos produced by medical institutions (P = .0104), not selling specific products (P = .007) and not promoting alternative medicine (P = .0002). The number of subscribers was an independent predictor of views/month (P < .0001). Conclusion: Patients may be exposed to videos of poor quality when searching for information about ED on YouTube. The medical community needs to adapt a strategy to improve the quality of online medical information. Fode M, Nolsøe AB, Jacobsen FM, et al. Quality of Information in YouTube Videos on Erectile Dysfunction. J Sex Med 2020;8:408–413.
KW - Communication
KW - Erectile dysfunction
KW - Information
KW - Internet
KW - Misinformation
KW - Online
KW - Social media
KW - YouTube
U2 - 10.1016/j.esxm.2020.05.007
DO - 10.1016/j.esxm.2020.05.007
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 32593674
AN - SCOPUS:85086906408
SN - 2050-1161
VL - 8
SP - 408
EP - 413
JO - Sexual Medicine
JF - Sexual Medicine
IS - 3
ER -