Cross-sectional analysis of the quality of hemodialysis short videos on TikTok

The global prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) ranges from 9.1% to 13.4%, with China having the largest number of CKD and advanced CKD patients in Asia. Most patients choose hemodialysis (HD) due to its high safety. Still, long-term treatment may cause complications such as restless legs syndrome and skin itching, which seriously affect patients' quality of life. Recently, the Internet has gradually become the main medical and health information source. As one of the largest short-video platforms in China, TikTok is an important source for spreading health information. However, the reliability of content about hemodialysis on short-video platforms varies and lacks professional evaluation. This study aims to evaluate the content, reliability, and quality of short videos related to hemodialysis on TikTok. In May 2025, a new TikTok account was created, and the keyword "hemodialysis" was used for searching. The first 100 videos were evaluated using three scales: GQS, JAMA, and the Modified DISCERN. Relevant information from the videos was extracted and analyzed. Overall, the quality of short videos about hemodialysis on TikTok was not satisfactory. Most videos had GQS scores of 2-3, JAMA scores of 2, and Modified DISCERN scores of 2. Videos posted by health professionals had higher quality and reliability than those by non-health professionals (P < 0.05). Videos with diverse presentation forms had significantly higher GQS, JAMA, and Modified DISCERN scores than monotonous presentation forms (P < 0.05). Some variables, such as likes and duration, comments, and scale scores, showed no correlation, while the rest were positively correlated (P < 0.05). This study shows that the overall quality and reliability of short videos related to hemodialysis on TikTok are low, but videos posted by medical professionals and those with diverse presentation forms are of better quality. It is recommended that when users search for relevant health information on short-video platforms, they should prioritize watching videos released by qualified healthcare professionals with verified identity badges.