Can social media videos meet patients' information needs for benign prostatic hyperplasia? A repeated cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common urological condition among older men and can cause lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). As patients increasingly seek disease-related information through social media, evaluations of the quality, reliability, and transparency of patient-facing BPH content remain limited.

Methods: Repeated cross-sectional searches were conducted on Bilibili and TikTok on December 1, 16, and 31, 2025. Basic video characteristics were extracted. Video reliability, quality, and transparency were assessed using the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), Global Quality Score (GQS), and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, respectively. Exploratory supplementary assessments of content coverage and accessibility-related features were conducted using the content coverage checklist (CCC) and video accessibility checklist (VAC). Potentially misleading or harmful information signals were also descriptively assessed. Spearman correlation analysis and ordinal logistic regression were performed to examine associations between video characteristics and assessment scores.

Results: A total of 217 videos were included. Overall, the median (IQR) scores were 3.00 (2.00-3.00) for mDISCERN, 3.00 (2.00-3.00) for GQS, and 2.00 (2.00-2.00) for JAMA. In exploratory supplementary analyses, the median (IQR) scores were 3.00 (2.00-4.00) for CCC and 6.00 (5.00-6.00) for VAC. Potentially misleading or harmful information signals were observed in 29 videos (13.4%). Videos published by professional individuals and professional institutions had significantly higher mDISCERN, GQS, and JAMA scores than those published by non-professional individuals (all P < 0.001). Spearman correlation analysis and ordinal logistic regression indicated that engagement metrics were not independent predictors of assessment scores.

Conclusions: Overall, BPH-related videos on social media showed moderate reliability, quality, and transparency, but consistently high-value content remained limited. A minority of videos also contained potentially misleading or harmful information signals. Videos from professional sources tended to provide higher-quality information, whereas user engagement was not a reliable indicator of content quality. These findings suggest that urologists and healthcare institutions may have an important role in providing more structured, understandable, and patient-oriented digital education for men seeking BPH information online.