Examining Videos on YouTube for Hypertension

New York—An analysis of popular search terms on YouTube found that approximately two-thirds of the videos related to hypertension were useful to people; however, those videos were the least likely to be viewed.

Researchers presented the results at the ASH meeting during a featured poster session titled Are Video Sharing Websites a Useful Source of Information on Hypertension?

“Being in the clinic as a resident, we used to see a lot of patients [who] would seek medical information online,” Nilay Kumar, MD, the study’s lead author, said in an interview with First Report Managed Care. “A lot of times, that medical information is not accurate. A lot of times they are taking supplements, like garlic supplements, that are not currently recommended by the [American Heart Association] or any major organization. We thought it would be [useful] to look at the quality of information on a popular Web site.”

With >1 billion pageviews per month, YouTube is the third most popular Web site in the world, according to Dr. Kumar. He said the videos have “a greater potential to alter patient behavior” than other forms of media, such as print or online publications.

The researchers searched the terms “hypertension” and “high blood pressure” on YouTube, finding
approximately 400,000 videos combined. Dr. Kumar and his colleagues evaluated the first 10 pages of the results (approximately 400 videos) because they have found that most people are unlikely to search beyond 10 pages. They only included videos in English that had information on systemic hypertension. If the videos discussed topics such as pulmonary hypertension or gestational hypertension, they were excluded.

Dr. Kumar said 64% of the videos were useful and conformed to current guidelines, while 33% were misleading and mentioned therapies that were not currently advocated by guidelines as first-line treatment options. Examples included acupuncture, acupressure, coenzyme Q-10, and garlic.

The researchers also examined how viewers interacted with the videos. They found that videos that were misleading had a larger number of views and likes than the videos that were more accurate.

“We did not have any tool to look at video quality, but I think 1 reason might be that [misleading videos] provide some sort of an alternative approach compared to what patients may have already heard before,” Dr. Kumar said. “The other thing it suggests is that people looking at information on the Internet do not have a great ability to discriminate incorrect from correct information. That is where the medical community might [need to] do a better job at talking to patients and communicating with them about what might be credible sources of information on the Internet, and if they do seek medical information online, what sources they should trust and what sources they should not trust. The other thing that the medical community needs to do is to have more credible online sources out there to use the Internet to the advantage of patient care.”

Dr. Kumar said that 87% of people in the United States use the Internet and 56% have smartphones, which will expand in the coming years. He suggested making information on the Internet easier for nonmedical professionals to understand. For instance, he recommended that instead of mentioning the molecular mechanisms of hypertension, it may be better to have more patient-specific topics.

“We need to use this all-ubiquitous technology to our advantage,” Dr. Kumar said.—Tim Casey