YouTube as a Health Information Source: COVID-19 and Andrology

Abstract

Aim:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality and reliability of YouTube videos about infertility, erectile dysfunction and sex relationship with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).Methods:In this prospective study, videos were selected on 20.12.2020 and variable parameters were studied on the same day. Non-variable parameters such as quality and reliability were studied until 25.12.2020. “Corona, infertility”, “corona, erectile dysfunction”, “corona, sex”, “COVID, infertility”, “COVID, erectile dysfunction”, COVID, sex”, “pandemic, infertility” “pandemic, erectile dysfunction” and “pandemic, sex” search words scanned in a private search mode on the YouTube website. Unrelated, not English, do not contain any information videos excluded. The remaining videos were evaluated according to the presenter source and the presented audience with modified discern and Global Quality Scala (GQS) forms.Results:Fourteen (14%) of 100 videos were about erectile dysfunction, 56 (56%) were about infertility and 30 (30%) were about sex. Fifteen (15%) of the videos were presented by individual sources, 4 (4%) by non-physician healthcare professionals, 48 (48%) by individual physicians, 17 (17%) by physician groups, 13 (13%) by news agencies, and 3 (3%) by private companies. While 87 (87%) of the target group was the general public, 13 (13%) of them were healthcare professionals. According to the presenter source, the modified discern and GQS scores of the physician group were higher than the other groups. However, the number of views and likes in these two groups was low.Conclusion:Videos offered by physician groups and targeted by healthcare professionals on YouTube are of higher quality and more reliable. However, the popularity of videos is not a suitable indicator of quality.

Keywords

• social media
• infertility
• erectile dysfunction