Quality of information in osteoporosis videos on TikTok: a cross-sectional study

Summary

This study evaluated the quality of osteoporosis videos on TikTok, finding that while most are by doctors, the information quality is low. Longer videos tend to have better quality but receive less engagement, highlighting concerns about the suitability of TikTok for medical education.

Background

TikTok has become a significant channel for the general public to access and adopt health information. However, the quality of health content about osteoporosis on TikTok remains underexplored.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the information quality of osteoporosis videos on TikTok.

Methods

We analyzed the first 200 videos related to osteoporosis on TikTok, focusing on 128 videos that met our criteria. The quality of these videos was evaluated using quantitative scoring tools such as the DISCERN instrument and Content Integrity Assessment. Additionally, the correlation between video quality and characteristics, including duration, likes, comments, and shares, was investigated.

Results

Of the videos analyzed, 93.0% were posted by doctors. Content integrity scores were as follows: definition 0.61 ± 0.77, symptoms 0.34 ± 0.71, evaluation 0.39 ± 0.71, risk factors 0.55 ± 0.65, management 0.82 ± 0.56, and outcomes 1.17 ± 0.75. The average DISCERN score was 36.51 ± 6.87, the majority of videos were rated as poor (71.1%) or fair (22.7%) in quality. DISCERN scores of videos published by doctors were lower than those created by non-professionals (Z = -2.062, P = 0.039). DISCERN scores were significantly correlated with video duration (r = 0.581, P < 0.001). Engagement metrics such as likes, comments, favorites, and shares were highly interrelated (r = 0.855 to 0.901, P < 0.001), but did not correlate with video quality (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

Although the videos about osteoporosis on TikTok are mainly provided by doctors, their quality is low. We found a positive correlation between video duration and video quality. High-quality videos received low attention, while popular videos were of low quality. The medical information on TikTok is currently not rigorous enough to guide patients to make accurate judgments. Due to the low quality and reliability of the information, TikTok is not an appropriate source of knowledge to educate patients.