SIR 2024
Men's Health
Connor C. Jacob, BS, MS
Medical Student
The Ohio State University
Financial relationships: Full list of relationships is listed on the CME information page.
Mina S. Makary, MD (he/him/his)
Interventional Radiologist
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Financial relationships: Full list of relationships is listed on the CME information page.
To evaluate the quality and impact of YouTube videos on patient education concerning prostatic artery embolization (PAE).
Materials and Methods:
All published prostatic artery embolization videos on YouTube were evaluated in August 2023. The quality of the videos was evaluated utilizing the DISCERN Scale Criterion {1}. The popularity of each video was assessed using the Video Power Index (VPI) {2, 3}, and level of patient engagement was measured using our novel Viewer Impact Score (VIS). Comparisons of these variables were conducted for the video source type (e.g. academic institution, board-certified physician, interventional radiologist, and patient testimony) and stylistic choices (e.g. animation, speech, text, and live procedural footage). Data describing discussion of risks, benefits, indications, patient concerns, and expected outcomes were further collected.
Results:
For the 43 videos included in the study, the mean DISCERN, VPI, and VIS scores were 46.4, 15.0, and 36.9, respectively. Characteristics were obtained including video duration (mean = 4.6 minutes), views (mean = 16,885), and likes (mean = 139). Weak correlation was found between quality and popularity (r = 0.22), and no correlation was found between quality and engagement (r = 0.07). A moderately strong correlation was found between popularity and engagement (r = .73). Videos featuring board-certified physicians were not found to have significantly different DISCERN scores (p = 0.11), popularity (0.11), or engagement (0.36) compared to those without. There was no difference found comparing quality (p = 0.18), popularity (p = 0.34), or engagement (p = 0.36) between interventional radiologists and other specialties. The inclusion of patient testimony also had no significant impact on our outcomes of interest. Three videos were found to be outliers with higher levels of popularity, engagement, and quality. Most videos included discussion of indications (n = 41), benefits (n = 39), and recovery (n = 32), while most videos did not discuss alternatives (n = 20), risks (n = 14) or contraindications (n = 4).
Conclusion:
Educational videos about PAE on YouTube are mostly low- to mid-quality sources of information for patients with a few outliers exhibiting higher levels of quality, engagement, and popularity. Overall, risks and contraindications were discussed less than indications, benefits, and recovery. Clinicians should be aware of the general state of online information concerning PAE and guide patients towards high quality resources if indicated.