Benign prostatic hyperplasia related content on YouTube: unregulated and concerning

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Information derived from social media sources is being used to save lives and take vital life altering decisions. You Tube is one of the most widely used social media for seeking medical information. Quality of information available to patients and medical professionals on YouTube with regards to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a common urological condition, w.as assessed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: First 1 00 videos results on BPH were analysed by three independent observers and graded based on the quality of information provided using an indigenous grading system of five points ranging from not useful to Informative for the Medical Professional. Correlation of this score with rank, number of views and "likes" was performed. Source of videos was identified along with analysis of comments. RESULTS: A large proportion of videos (63%) was found to be irrelevant to the search, projected wrong facts or provided very basic · information about prostate and the disease. A small but significant number of videos contained useful and relevant information. Only a handful of videos were useful for the urologist and adequate to guide the patient. A negative correlation between the quality of videos and their ranking on search was observed. CONCLUSIONS: YouTube offers very few high quality resources for patients and physicians. There is a significant negative correlation between useful videos and higher ranks in search results, but no correlation with number of views and likes. The first video in such results should be issued by a governing body that serves as the gold standard for patients and physicians.