Description
- Abstract:
- Objective Pregnant people are increasingly utilizing TikTok to access medical information. However, the accuracy and reliability of this content remain largely unexamined. This study aimed to evaluate videos on prenatal aneuploidy testing by engagement, reliability, and quality, comparing results by content category and account type. Study Design Researchers conducted TikTok searches (May-July 2025) using 11 sets of keywords. The first 100 videos for each search were collected and screened with inclusion and exclusion criteria (Figure 1). Videos were categorized based on content type and account type (ie, healthcare professionals, laypeople, or other). Data collected directly from TikTok included video length and engagement metrics (views, likes, and comments). Two independent reviewers used the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) criteria to assess reliability and the Global Quality Scale (GQS) to assess quality. Engagement metrics, mDISCERN, and GQS were compared across video category and account type using Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results 541 videos met inclusion criteria. The distribution of video content categories and account types are shown in Table 1. These videos had a median: 30,500 views, 378 likes, 38 comments. The median mDISCERN was 3.5 out of 14 (Q1 2.5, Q3 6), and the median GQS was 2.5 out of 5 (Q1 2, Q3 3). Videos posted by healthcare professionals had a higher median mDISCERN and GQS compared to videos posted by non-healthcare professionals, but fewer views (p< 0.01, see Table 1). Fear mongering and crowdsourcing videos (posted mainly by non-healthcare professionals) were among the highest engagement categories, but had low mDISCERN and GQS scores. Conclusion TikTok provides unreliable and low-quality medical information on aneuploidy testing in pregnancy. Healthcare professionals’ videos are higher in quality and reliability but have lower views than those by non-healthcare professionals. These findings highlight the need for strategies to improve the reach of accurate, evidence-based prenatal information on social media platforms.
- Notes:
- Scholarly concentration: Women's Reproductive Health
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- Use and Reproduction
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Citation
Houlihan, Ashley, Elshama, Justine, Kelley, Emma MS CGC, et al.,
"Virality vs Veracity: Analyzing TikTok Engagement & Misinformation on Aneuploidy Screening & Diagnosis in Pregnancy"
(2025).
Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/8pyb-rr25
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Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium
The Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium is an annual event at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University that provides Year II medical students a venue to present their summer research in a poster format. Participation in the Symposium …...