Evaluation of the quality of YouTube videos on traditional Chinese medicine and inflammatory arthritis: Quality of TCM videos for inflammatory arthritis

Abstract Introduction YouTube is used by patients to obtain healthcare related information, but its quality of videos is controversial. We aimed to assess the reliability and quality of YouTube videos as a source of patient education about Traditional Chinese Medicine for inflammatory arthritis. Methods We searched YouTube with the following keywords (in English and Mandarin): “traditional Chinese medicine”, “rheumatoid arthritis”, “ankylosing spondylitis”, “spondyloarthritis”, “psoriatic arthritis” and “inflammatory arthritis”. We excluded videos that were neither in English nor Mandarin, irrelevant or duplicates. We assessed video reliability and quality using the modified 5-point DISCERN tool and 5-point Global Quality Scale respectively. We categorized videos as having useful information, misleading information or personal experience. Results Out of the 1032 videos obtained from the search, we included 108 videos for analysis. We categorized 36 (33.33%) videos as providing useful information, 50 (46.30%) as misleading information and 22 (20.37%) as personal experience. Misleading videos gave partially accurate or inaccurate explanations and some were used for promotional purposes, with minimal information on Traditional Chinese Medicine. Videos uploaded by news sources had the highest reliability and quality, with 73.08% containing useful information. Conclusion There is a lack of useful videos about Traditional Chinese Medicine for inflammatory arthritis on YouTube, with about half containing incorrect information. Rheumatologists and Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners should actively enquire and discuss with patients about their online search, to guide patients in discriminating useful videos from misleading ones. Both healthcare professionals can collaborate to produce videos with content of a higher quality.