Assessing the Quality and Reliability of Rheumatoid Arthritis Exercise Videos on TikTok and YouTube

Abstract

Objective: An autoimmune condition that frequently affects the synovial joints and other organ systems is called rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Social media platforms are increasingly used to access health-related information. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the RA exercise videos on YouTube and TikTok in terms of their accuracy, quality, and content-specificity. Methods: The term “rheumatoid arthritis exercise” was sorted on YouTube and TikTok on 25 July 2023. To simulate an average search query, the keyword by "top" results on TikTok and by "relevance" on YouTube were used. The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), DISCERN, and Global Quality Scale (GQS) scoring systems were used to evaluate the information's quality and accuracy. Additionally, the videos' attributes and sources were examined. Results: Fifty videos from each platform were included out of the 214 videos that were evaluated. YouTube videos had more views (35438 vs. 5989, p<0.001), likes (871 vs. 199, p<0.001), and uploads by doctors (34% vs.14%, p<0.001) in addition to being longer (12.12 minutes vs. 0.42 minutes, p<0.001). YouTube videos were also significantly more likely to receive high DISCERN reliability, quality and overall scores (21,5(11) vs. 15(6), 15(9) vs. 9(4) and 40,5(21) vs. 28(9), p<0.001, respectively). In addition, YouTube videos had higher GQS scores and JAMA scores (24% vs. 4%, 2(1) vs. 1(1), p<0.001, respectively). Conclusion: RA exercise related videos are more likely to have higher quality and accuracy on YouTube than on TikTok. It is important to provide videos by healthcare professionals to guide patients about accurate and high-quality health-related information.