- Title Information
- Title
- Virality vs Veracity: Analyzing TikTok Engagement & Misinformation on Aneuploidy Screening & Diagnosis in Pregnancy
- Type of Resource (primo)
- text_resources
- 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.
- Name
- Name Part
- Houlihan, Ashley
- Role
- Role Term (marcrelator)
(authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
- Author
- Name
- Name Part
- Elshama, Justine
- Role
- Role Term (marcrelator)
(authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
- Author
- Name
- Name Part
- Kelley, Emma MS CGC
- Role
- Role Term (marcrelator)
(authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
- Author
- Name
- Name Part
- Miller, Emily MD
- Role
- Role Term (marcrelator)
(authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
- Author
- Name
- Name Part
- Lewkowitz, Adam MD
- Role
- Role Term (marcrelator)
(authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
- Author
- Name
- Name Part
- Russo, Melissa MD
- Role
- Role Term (marcrelator)
(authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
- Author
- Name
- Name Part
- Thorsen, Margaret MD
- Role
- Role Term (marcrelator)
(authorityURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators", valueURI="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut")
- Author
- Name:
Corporate
- Name Part
- Brown University. Alpert Medical School. Scholarly Concentration Program. Women's Reproductive Health
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- research program
- Subject (fast)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/01014024")
- Topic
- Medical education
- Subject (fast)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/01741098")
- Topic
- Social media
- Subject (fast)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/00808717")
- Topic
- Aneuploidy
- Subject (fast)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/01075465")
- Topic
- Prenatal diagnosis
- Language
- Language Term:
Text (ISO639-2B)
- English
- Origin Information
- Date Created
(keyDate="yes", encoding="w3cdtf")
- 2025
- Note
(displayLabel="Scholarly concentration")
- Women's Reproductive Health
- Access Condition:
use and reproduction
- All rights reserved
- Access Condition:
rights statement
(href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/")
- In Copyright
- Access Condition:
restriction on access
- All Rights Reserved
- Identifier:
DOI
- 10.26300/8pyb-rr25