YouTube videos on shoulder arthroplasty are of low quality, reliability, and content regardless of source

Abstract

BackgroundIncreasing patient volume has led to YouTube, the largest video streaming platform, becoming a significant source of information for orthopedic patients. The reliability, quality, and content of YouTube videos on shoulder arthroplasty has not yet been evaluated. The purpose of the current investigation is 2-fold: (1) quantitatively analyze the reliability, quality, and content of YouTube videos on shoulder arthroplasty and (2) determine which shoulder arthroplasty YouTube video source is associated with superior reliability, quality, and content?. MethodsAfter clearing all personal data, a search of the YouTube video library was performed for total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA). Videos were reviewed for number of likes, dislikes, and views, as well as video source, duration, age, like ratio, and power index. Videos were graded for reliability, quality, and content using the JAMA Benchmark Criteria, DISCERN, and a study-specific 15-point grading system. Relationships between content scores and video source were investigated using analysis of variance testing and logistic regression. ResultsOne hundred nine YouTube videos were included in this analysis. The total number of views was 2,443,368 (mean of 22,416.2 views/video). The videos for both TSA and RTSA were of overall low reliability (each with a JAMA score of 2.3 out of 4), had poor DISCERN scores of 34.6 and 37.2 out of 80, and scored poorly on the study-specific scale with 4.9 and 5.4 out of 15 points, respectively. Regression analysis revealed that independent of video length, TSA (odds ratio = 0.04, P = .020) and RTSA (odds ratio = 0.18, P = .046) videos uploaded by physicians were less likely to have a poor DISCERN score. ConclusionOverall, although shoulder arthroplasty videos on YouTube are highly viewed, they are of low quality, poor content, and low reliability. Despite the poor average scores, there were a small number of physician-posted videos for both TSA and RTSA that scored very highly for DISCERN and the study-specific content score. A future direction for the use of YouTube content in orthopedics is a society approved list or YouTube channel with comprehensive, reliable video(s), to which the orthopedic surgeon can direct the patient to support patient education prior to surgery.