Deans' stroke musings: Study on the Quality, Relevance, and Comparability of YouTube Videos Expressing Stroke and Its Consequences From Various Sources

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Friday, August 11, 2023

Study on the Quality, Relevance, and Comparability of YouTube Videos Expressing Stroke and Its Consequences From Various Sources

FYI.

Study on the Quality, Relevance, and Comparability of YouTube Videos Expressing Stroke and Its Consequences From Various Sources

Cite this article as: Nanda A, M N M, Jammula G, et al. (August 10, 2023) Study on the Quality, Relevance, and Comparability of YouTube Videos Expressing Stroke and Its Consequences From Various Sources . Cureus 15(8): e43277. doi:10.7759/cureus.43277

Abstract

Background and objective

Stroke-related deaths have been one of the major causes of death worldwide due to its rising risk factors. As a result, several people rely on YouTube as a great source of information on stroke without knowing the genuineness of the content. This study aims to assess the quality and reliability of the information on stroke uploaded on the YouTube platform using the Global Quality score (GQS) and DISCERN score (DS), respectively.

Methodology

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in April 2023. Stroke-related keywords were used to search for videos on YouTube. Videos that met inclusion criteria were evaluated for baseline characteristics (likes, comments, views, duration of video, time since posted, and uploader type) and type of information in the video about stroke (symptoms, etiology, treatment, and other parameters). These videos were then evaluated for quality and reliability of information using GQS and DS, respectively.

Results

After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria and removing the duplicates, 73 YouTube videos were selected. The videos had a total number of 23,927,445 views, 385,324 likes, and 31,927 comments. Maximum videos were uploaded by hospitals (25, 34.2%). Several videos described the symptoms (54, 73.97%), treatment (50, 68.49%), and etiology (49, 67.12%) of stroke. The reach of videos measured by the Video Power Index (VPI) was highest for videos uploaded by healthcare organizations (mean VPI = 120.11). There was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) in the quality (GQS score) and reliability (DS) of videos uploaded by doctors, hospitals, healthcare organizations, and news channels.

Conclusions

YouTube can become an important source to disseminate information about health-related conditions like stroke if the videos uploaded are of high quality (GQS score) and reliable (DS).

Introduction

The World Health Organization has defined a stroke as a rapidly developing clinical sign of focal or global disturbance of cerebral function, lasting more than 24 hours or leading to death, with no apparent cause other than vascular origin [1]. As per the World Stroke Organization - Global Stroke Fact Sheet 2022, stroke is the second-leading cause of death and the third-leading cause of death and disability combined in the world [2]. Nonmodifiable risk factors like age, ethnicity, genetics, and family history contribute to stroke risk [3], but there are disparities in stroke risk, rates, and treatment worldwide.

YouTube, the second-most-popular video-sharing platform in the world, with over two billion subscribers, has become a popular platform to disseminate health information [4-6]. Social media platforms like YouTube have been evaluated for validity and dependability for several diseases like glioblastoma, abdominal aortic aneurysms, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [7-12]. Stroke, the fifth-leading cause of mortality in the United States, is still not being given enough consideration in this regard [13]. The lack of reliable information on stroke on platforms like YouTube highlights the need for video analysis and implementation of an audience engagement criterion for video creators to guarantee that viewers get accurate education, particularly since stroke is a medical emergency requiring immediate care to minimize the damage [14]. Therefore, this study aims to assess the reliability and quality of stroke information presented on YouTube.

This study aims to assess the reliability and quality of the information on stroke on YouTube using the DISCERN score (DS) and the Global Quality score (GQS), respectively.