Are the anal sphincter repair videos on YouTube™ informative? Two surgical department view

Aims: YouTube™ remains the world’s most visited video site, and the number of hits for videos containing health information is increasing day by day. The fact that videos uploaded to the platform are not subject to medical supervision before uploading may lead to misinformation or incomplete information. This article aims to evaluate the quality level of anal sphincter repair (ASR) videos uploaded to YouTube™. Methods: The study was cross-sectional and 52 videos were analysed. The quality of the videos was assessed by 2 surgeons using the global quality score (GQS), modified DISCERN and anal sphincter repair YouTube score (ASRYS). Video duration (seconds), time since upload (months), number of views/comments/likes/dislikes were analysed. Results: The majority of the videos (38.46%) were uploaded by doctors, while the rest were uploaded by hospitals and midwives. The mean GQS score was 2.56±1.14, modified DISCERN score was 2.77±1.08 and ASR score was 5.63±2.79. The GQS, modified DISCERN and ASR YouTube scores of the videos produced by doctors were significantly higher than those of the videos produced by both midwives and hospitals (p=0.001). According to the correlation analysis, significant positive changes vary between GQS, Modified DISCERN and ASRYS (p=0.001). Kappa Index analyses for three evaluations indicated high agreement. GQS showed a Kappa of 0.923 (SE=0.042, T=11.921, p=0.001), modified DISCERN a Kappa of 0.948 (SE=0.036, T=12.086, p=0.001), and ASRYS a Kappa of 0.936 (SE=0.036, T=20.151, p=0.001). Conclusion: Video content on ASR reviewed from YouTube was largely inadequate. Information provided by physicians about the disease and treatment options was statistically more successful and inadequate. Either a primary role should be taken in uploading high quality videos or audit mechanisms should be established to ensure the safety and accuracy of the information.