A cross-sectional study on the quality of IgA nephropathy videos on short video platforms

BACKGROUND: IgA nephropathy, as a common chronic kidney disease, relies on accurate health knowledge for long-term patient management. Short videos have become a significant channel for the public to access medical information, but their overall quality varies widely, and research in the field of IgA nephropathy remains largely unexplored. A cross-sectional study design was employed to systematically retrieve videos from both platforms using "IgA nephropathy" as the keyword. Based on the inclusion criteria, 186 short videos were obtained. Video characteristics, uploader categories, and interaction metrics were collected. Quality assessment was performed using the global quality scale (GQS), modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, and the Video Information and Quality Index (VIQI). The overall quality of videos across both platforms was moderate. Videos published by healthcare personnel scored significantly higher than those from individual users on the GQS, mDISCERN, and JAMA criteria. Monologue-style videos demonstrated superior quality compared to other expression forms. TikTok significantly outperformed Bilibili in terms of VIQI-1/2 scores and also garnered higher levels of user interaction. Moderate to strong positive correlations were observed between interaction metrics and both GQS and VIQI scores, whereas no significant correlation was found with mDISCERN or JAMA scores. The primary focus of video content was on treatment and prognosis, while information on etiology and financial burden was notably insufficient. There are platform-specific differences in the visual presentation and information accuracy of IgA nephropathy-related short videos. Insufficient professional involvement and the absence of key information may limit the public's comprehensive understanding of the disease. Enhancing healthcare personnel participation, improving the quality of visual presentation, supplementing core medical information, and optimizing platform recommendation mechanisms will contribute to increasing the effectiveness of short videos in public health education.