Assessment of the Quality and Reliability of Content Available on YouTube About Palpitations

Abstract

Palpitations refer to the sensation of rapid, fluttering, or pounding heartbeats in the chest, the determinants of which may range from hormonal changes to anxiety or arrhythmias. YouTube is one of the most prevailing and accepted web-based platforms people trust to help them understand more about their health conditions. Thus, this study aims to assess whether the quality of content about palpitations on this platform is reliable and sufficient. Seventy-one YouTube videos were analyzed using criteria such as date and time of upload, type of uploader, and type of content. The Global Quality Score (GQS) and modified DISCERN score were used to analyze the quality and reliability of the information provided. Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, US) was used for data analysis, and StataCorp’s 2023 Stata Statistical Software (College Station, TX, US) was used for statistical analysis and visualization. Of the 71 videos analyzed, 90.14% were uploaded more than a year ago, 80.28% described the symptomatology in detail, and 81.69% accurately described the etiological factors. Hospitals and doctors were the most common uploaders, constituting 23% and 19% of the uploaded videos, respectively, and had high GQSs (Median GQS = 4). The highest scores also belonged to videos uploaded by patients suffering from the disease (Median GQS = 5). Hospitals and news channels ranked highest on the reliability score (Median DISCERN = 4, respectively). It was determined that despite varied sources, the nature of content provided by the platform contains promotional material and content gaps; YouTube should, therefore, be used critically and as per professional sources.