#Infertility: Evaluation of Quality and Accuracy of TikTok Videos [ID 2683621

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to determine the quality and accuracy of infertility content on TikTok using the validated DISCERN scoring system. METHODS: The top 100 TikTok videos tagged “#Infertility” were assessed across 15 DISCERN categories by three reviewers. Videos were classified by type (educational, lifestyle, entertainment) and creator (patient, obstetrician–gynecologist, non-physician health care professionals, non-health care professionals, unknown). Multiple linear regression explored the creator-DISCERN score correlation, adjusting for video type, with significance at P<.05. RESULTS: One hundred videos were assessed: 59 lifestyle, 24 entertainment, and 17 educational, with a mean DISCERN score of 23.64±0.636. The majority of videos scored less than 39, indicating “poor”/“very poor” quality, while five scored “fair” with 39+. Most videos were patient-created (68%), followed by obstetrician–gynecologist-created (14%). There was significant association between creator and DISCERN score with patient-created videos (mean, 21.71±0.545) scoring lower than obstetrician–gynecologist-created videos (mean, 29.41±2.142; P<.001). Chi-squared independence test showed significance in video type distribution among creators with 82% of patient videos falling in the lifestyle category and 71% of obstetrician–gynecologist videos falling in the educational category (X2=67.537; df=8; P<.001). After adjusting for video type, linear regression showed no significant difference among scores of patient and obstetrician–gynecologist videos (P=.184). CONCLUSION: Fertility-related TikTok videos created by patients had lower DISCERN scores than those created by obstetrician–gynecologists. These results demonstrate that TikTok does not provide appropriate knowledge to educate patients. There is an increased need for unbiased fertility-related content on TikTok.