Background

Quality of low back pain (LBP) information offered on YouTube ™ is unclear.

Objective

To describe the current low back pain information available on YouTube ™ and determine if these videos report information that aligns with clinical guidelines. Further analysis explored whether specific features of the videos explain their popularity.

Methods

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on videos related to LBP on YouTube™ with the 200 most viewed videos using the term “low back pain.” The videos were independently viewed and assessed by two researchers for specific video characteristics, LBP specific content, and compliance with guidelines. The association between video characteristics or content with popularity (i.e., views, likes, dislikes, and comments) was investigated using regression models.

Results

The median number of views was 2 018 167. Only 59 (29.5%) of the videos reported at least one diagnostic recommendation from clinical guidelines, and only 100 (50%) reported a treatment recommendation that aligned with clinical guidelines. Apart from year of upload, no variables were identified that were independently associated with popularity or engagement of the videos.

Conclusion

The information related to LBP offered on YouTube™ is often not evidence-based and there is the tendency to prioritize information on interventions rather than understanding the LBP process. Factors related to engagement with content about LBP on YouTube™ remains uncertain, indicating further need for knowledge translation in this field.

中文翻译：

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YouTube™ 上与腰痛相关的热门视频不反映当前的临床指南：一项横断面研究

背景

YouTube™ 上提供的腰痛 (LBP) 信息的质量尚不清楚。

客观的

描述 YouTube™ 上当前可用的腰痛信息，并确定这些视频报告的信息是否符合临床指南。进一步的分析探讨了视频的特定特征是否解释了它们的受欢迎程度。

方法

对 YouTube™ 上与 LBP 相关的视频进行了一项横断面观察研究，其中 200 个观看次数最多的视频使用了“腰痛”一词。两名研究人员独立查看和评估视频的特定视频特征、LBP 特定内容以及对指南的遵守情况。使用回归模型研究了视频特征或内容与流行度（即观看次数、喜欢、不喜欢和评论）之间的关联。

结果

观看次数中位数为 2 018 167。只有 59 个（29.5%）的视频报告了临床指南中的至少一项诊断建议，只有 100 个（50%）的视频报告了与临床指南一致的治疗建议。除了上传年份之外，没有发现与视频的受欢迎程度或参与度独立相关的变量。

结论

YouTube™ 上提供的与 LBP 相关的信息通常不是基于证据的，并且倾向于优先考虑干预信息而不是了解 LBP 过程。与 YouTube™ 上关于 LBP 的内容相关的因素仍然不确定，表明该领域需要进一步的知识翻译。