Abstract 1607P
Background
YouTube used by approximately two billion people per month and videos are watched in high numbers in the medical field. There are many different perspectives on nutrition in cancer patients and it is known that patients have a great search for this issue. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the scientific reliability and the relationship between the quality and popularity of the most watched YouTube videos on cancer and nutrition.
Methods
On March 1, 2022, videos were scanned on the YouTube sharing platform using the keywords "cancer and nutrition", "nutrition in cancer", "cancer food" and "cancer diet". The videos were watched blindly by two specialist oncologists and the video quality was evaluated according to the internationally valid medical video/document evaluation scores; DISCERN score, Modified Discern Score, JAMA Score and Global Quality Score.
Results
Forty-six (58%) of the videos were uploaded to the platform by doctors or dietitians. The average duration of the videos was 11.6 minutes, the average number of views was 360.725 and the most watched video was watched 3.495.565 times. The average number of likes was 7785 and the average number of comments was 585. While 29 videos (36%) recommended a uniform diet, 51 videos (64%) had food suggestions that could be added to the diet. The most recommended foods were cruciferous (n=16, 20%) (broccoli and cauliflower) and berrys (n=12%, 15%) (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry). When the video quality was evaluated according to the DISCERN score, only 17 (21%) videos were evaluated as good or very good (Table). There was a strong negative correlation between the DISCERN score and the number of video views and likes (r=-.426, p <0.001 and r= -.226 and p=0.017, respectively).
Conclusions
Videos about cancer and nutrition were highly watched, but the overall quality and reliability were low. Although the source of the information presented and its deficiencies and sometimes misleading statements were found, it was determined that the videos with less reliability were watched more. There is a need to attach importance to the education given to patients by physicians and nutritionists specialized in cancer and nutrition and to produce quality content on YouTube or similar platforms.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.