JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of death worldwide and imposes a significant economic burden. TikTok has risen as a favored platform within the social media sphere for disseminating CHD-related information and stands as a pivotal resource for patients seeking knowledge about CHD. However, the quality of such content on TikTok has yet to be unexplored.

Objective:

This study aims to assess the quality of information conveyed in TikTok CHD-related videos.

Methods:

A comprehensive cross-sectional study was undertaken on TikTok videos related to CHD. The sources of the videos were identified and analyzed. The content comprehensiveness of content was assessed through six questions addressing the definition, signs and symptoms, risk factors, evaluation, management, and outcomes. The quality of the videos was assessed using three standardized evaluative instruments: DISCERN, JAMA benchmarks, and the Global Quality Scale (GQS). Furthermore, analyses of the correlations between video quality and characteristics of the uploaders and the videos themselves were conducted.

Results:

Our search yielded 145 CHD-related videos from TikTok, predominantly uploaded by health professionals (88.3%), with news agencies (4.1%), non-profits (6.9%), and for-profits (0.7%) following. Content comprehensiveness achieved a median score of 3.00, with news agencies securing the highest scores of 5.50. Median values for the DISCERN, JAMA, and GQS evaluations across all videos stood at 27.00, 2.00, and 2.00, respectively. Videos from health professionals and non-profit organizations attained significantly superior JAMA scores in comparison to those of news agencies, whereas GQS scores for videos from health professionals were also notably higher than those from news agencies (P<0.05 or 0.01). Within health professionals, cardiologists demonstrated discernibly enhanced performance over non-cardiologists in both DISCERN and GQS assessments (P<0.05). Correlative analyses unveiled positive correlations between video quality and uploader metrics, encompassing the positive correlations between the number of followers, total likes, average likes per video, and established quality indices such as DISCERN, JAMA, or GQS scores. Similar investigations relating to video attributes showed correlations between user engagement factors—likes, comments, collections, shares—and the aforementioned quality indicators. In contrast, a negative correlation emerged between the number of days since upload and quality indices, while a longer video duration corresponded positively with higher DISCERN and GQS scores.

Conclusions:

The overall quality of the videos left much to be desired, with observable disparities in quality ratings contingent upon the source category. The content comprehensiveness coverage proved insufficient, casting doubts on the reliability and quality of the information relayed through these videos. Amongst health professionals, video contributions from cardiologists exhibited superior quality compared to non-cardiologists. As TikTok's role in health information dissemination expands, it becomes imperative to prioritize the accuracy and reliability of shared information, therein bridging the gap in meeting patients' knowledge needs about CHD that conventional health education fails to fulfill.