YouTube as a source of patient information on brain aneurysms: a content-quality and audience engagement analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The internet allows patients to access a vast amount of health information. We aimed to evaluate the credibility of YouTube videos that members of the public are accessing on brain aneurysms, and to evaluate what characteristics drive audience engagement. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The first 50 videos for each of the following search terms were taken for analysis: 'brain aneurysm', 'cerebral aneurysm' and 'intracranial aneurysm'. The quality of each video was evaluated by two neurosurgeons and two medical students independently using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the DISCERN instruments. Qualitative and quantitative video data was analysed for quality and audience engagement. Inter-rater agreement was ascertained. RESULTS: Out of a total of 150 videos, 70 met the inclusion criteria. The mean total DISCERN score was 36.5 ± 8.4 (out of 75 points), indicating that the videos were of poor quality. The mean JAMA score was 2.7 ± 0.7 (out of 4 points). Inter-rater agreement between the four raters was excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.90 for DISCERN and 0.93 for JAMA). Most videos were uploaded by hospitals (50%) or educational health channels (30%). Videos had a higher number of average daily views when they included animation (P = 0.0093) and diagrams (P = 0.0422). CONCLUSIONS: YouTube is a poor source of patient information on brain aneurysms. Our quality and audience engagement analysis may help content creators (i.e. hospital staff and physicians) to create more holistic, educational and engaging medical videos concerning brain aneurysms. Physicians could usefully refer their patients to the highest quality videos that we have found.

YouTube as a source of patient information for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): A content-quality and audience engagement analysis.

YouTube is the second most popular website in the world and is increasingly being used as a platform for disseminating health information. Our aim was to evaluate the content-quality and audience engagement of YouTube videos pertaining to the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)-CoV-2 virus which causes the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), during the early phase of the pandemic. We chose the first 30 videos for seven different search phrases: "2019 nCoV," "SARS CoV-2," "COVID-19 virus," "coronavirus treatment," "coronavirus explained," "what is the coronavirus" and "coronavirus information." Video contents were evaluated by two independent medical students with more than 5 years of experience using the DISCERN instrument. Qualitative data, quantitative data and upload source for each video was noted for a quality and audience engagement analysis. Out of the total 210 videos, 137 met our inclusion criteria and were evaluated. The mean DISCERN score was 31.33 out of 75 possible points, which indicates that the quality of YouTube videos on COVID-19 is currently poor. There was excellent reliability between the two raters (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.96). 55% of the videos discussed prevention, 49% discussed symptoms and 46% discussed the spread of the virus. Most of the videos were uploaded by news channels (50%) and education channels (40%). The quality of YouTube videos on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 is poor, however, we have listed the top-quality videos in our article as they may be effective tools for patient education during the pandemic.

Are online searches for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) related to media or epidemiology? A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies on the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have found strong correlations between online searches and the epidemiology of the disease. AIM: Our aim was to determine if online searches for COVID-19 related to international media announcements or national epidemiology. METHODS: Searches for "coronavirus" were made on Google Trends from December 31, 2019 to April 13, 2020 for 40 European countries. The online COVID-19 searches for all countries were correlated with each other. COVID-10 epidemiology (i.e. incidence and mortality) was correlated with the national online searches. Major announcements by the World Health Organization (WHO) were taken into consideration with peaks in online searches. Correlations were made using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Overall, the online searches for COVID-19 were not correlated with the actual incidence and mortality of COVID-19. The mean Spearman correlation for incidence was 0.20 (range -0.66 to 0.76) and for mortality was 0.35 (range -0.75 to 0.85). Online searches in Europe were all strongly synchronized with each other; a mean Spearman correlation of 0.93 (range 0.62 to 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Online searches for COVID-19 in Europe are not correlated with epidemiology but strongly correlated with international WHO announcements. Our study challenges previous Google Trends studies and emphasizes the role of the WHO in raising awareness of a new disease.