TY - JOUR

T1 - Quality of Information in YouTube Videos on Erectile Dysfunction

AU - Fode, Mikkel

AU - Nolsøe, Alexander B.

AU - Jacobsen, Frederik M.

AU - Russo, Giorgio Ivan

AU - Østergren, Peter B.

AU - Jensen, Christian Fuglesang S.

AU - Albersen, Maarten

AU - Capogrosso, Paolo

AU - Sønksen, Jens

AU - EAU YAU Men's Health Working Group

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Introduction: Many patients seek information online including on social media. Aim: To assess the quality of information regarding erectile dysfunction (ED) in YouTube videos. Methods: We searched “erectile dysfunction” on YouTube in October 2019 and evaluated the first 100 videos in English sorted by relevance. Main Outcome Measure: We recorded the user engagement, video producer, intended audience, and content. Videos containing medical information were evaluated using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and the DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information. The PEMAT evaluates the understandability and actionability of materials as a percentage. The DISCERN assesses the quality of information by a scale from 1 (serious or extensive shortcomings) to 5 (minimal shortcomings). Results: The median number of total views was 22,450 (range 591–20,255,133) and the median number of views/month was 654 (range 9–723,398). 42 percent of the videos were posted by professional medical institutions, and 21% were posted by individual medical professionals. Most videos were aimed at the general public or patients suffering from ED. The median PEMAT understandability and actionability scores were both 100% (range 50–100% and 33–100%, respectively). The median DISCERN score was 2 (range 1-5) with 80.4% receiving a score of ≤3. Overall, 28% of the videos contained direct misinformation. DISCERN scores were higher in videos produced by medical institutions (P = .0104), not selling specific products (P = .007) and not promoting alternative medicine (P = .0002). The number of subscribers was an independent predictor of views/month (P < .0001). Conclusion: Patients may be exposed to videos of poor quality when searching for information about ED on YouTube. The medical community needs to adapt a strategy to improve the quality of online medical information. Fode M, Nolsøe AB, Jacobsen FM, et al. Quality of Information in YouTube Videos on Erectile Dysfunction. J Sex Med 2020;8:408–413.

AB - Introduction: Many patients seek information online including on social media. Aim: To assess the quality of information regarding erectile dysfunction (ED) in YouTube videos. Methods: We searched “erectile dysfunction” on YouTube in October 2019 and evaluated the first 100 videos in English sorted by relevance. Main Outcome Measure: We recorded the user engagement, video producer, intended audience, and content. Videos containing medical information were evaluated using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and the DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information. The PEMAT evaluates the understandability and actionability of materials as a percentage. The DISCERN assesses the quality of information by a scale from 1 (serious or extensive shortcomings) to 5 (minimal shortcomings). Results: The median number of total views was 22,450 (range 591–20,255,133) and the median number of views/month was 654 (range 9–723,398). 42 percent of the videos were posted by professional medical institutions, and 21% were posted by individual medical professionals. Most videos were aimed at the general public or patients suffering from ED. The median PEMAT understandability and actionability scores were both 100% (range 50–100% and 33–100%, respectively). The median DISCERN score was 2 (range 1-5) with 80.4% receiving a score of ≤3. Overall, 28% of the videos contained direct misinformation. DISCERN scores were higher in videos produced by medical institutions (P = .0104), not selling specific products (P = .007) and not promoting alternative medicine (P = .0002). The number of subscribers was an independent predictor of views/month (P < .0001). Conclusion: Patients may be exposed to videos of poor quality when searching for information about ED on YouTube. The medical community needs to adapt a strategy to improve the quality of online medical information. Fode M, Nolsøe AB, Jacobsen FM, et al. Quality of Information in YouTube Videos on Erectile Dysfunction. J Sex Med 2020;8:408–413.

KW - Communication

KW - Erectile dysfunction

KW - Information

KW - Internet

KW - Misinformation

KW - Online

KW - Social media

KW - YouTube

U2 - 10.1016/j.esxm.2020.05.007

DO - 10.1016/j.esxm.2020.05.007

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32593674

AN - SCOPUS:85086906408

VL - 8

SP - 408

EP - 413

JO - Sexual Medicine

JF - Sexual Medicine

SN - 2050-1161

IS - 3

ER -