YouTube and Peripheral Neuropathy: What Patients Want? (P7.072)

OBJECTIVE: Perform a systematic review of information people are posting on YouTube regarding peripheral neuropathy. BACKGROUND: Fourteen percent of adults aged 40 years and older have peripheral neuropathy but only one-fourth of them are symptomatic. With social media revolution lot of patients are using YouTube as a source for medical information. There is no study evaluating the information disseminated through videos available on YouTube. DESIGN/METHODS: The website (www.youtube.com) was searched between September 19 th and September 21 st 2014 for the terms “neuropathy”, “peripheral neuropathy”, “diabetic neuropathy”, “neuropathy causes”, and “neuropathy treatment.” Inclusion criteria were duration less than 10 minutes, English language, and within first ten pages of search results. The included videos were then divided into two groups based on the source (patient, physician, or advertisement) and whether the treatment was discussed or not. RESULTS: Two hundred videos met our inclusion criteria. The maximum number of videos were posted by physicians (n=103), followed by patient (n=52), and advertisement (n=45). Only 15 videos discussed about standard treatment options as compare to 80 videos which talked about alternate therapies (p<0.05). The videos with a higher number of views had information regarding definition (n=32) or treatment (n=95) (p<0.05). The videos with more number of likes contained information about symptoms or signs of neuropathy (p=0.02) and treatment of neuropathy (p=0.0009). The number of views was higher when the source of information was advertisement (median 1699 [IQR 218-10208]) or patient (1540 [IQR 444-4034]) rather than physicians (449 [113-2170]) (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: YouTube offers videos posted by physicians, patients, and advertisement sources however physician’s videos are viewed less often than other groups. Alternate therapies although unproven are discussed more often than standard therapy on YouTube. This is very concerning for patient safety and needs to be addressed urgently in an era of social media dependence. STUDY SUPPORT: None Disclosure: Dr. Gupta has nothing to disclose. Dr. Patel has nothing to disclose. Dr. Gundogdu has nothing to disclose. Dr. Mittal has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hinduja has nothing to disclose.