Medical Misinformation and Quality of Public Video Content on Cannabis for Chronic Pain Management: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the YouTube Platform.

BACKGROUND

As cannabis legalization expands nationally and globally, its use for chronic pain increases, prompting people to seek information on social media platforms like YouTube. This study evaluates the accuracy and quality of information of popular YouTube videos on cannabis for chronic pain.

METHODS

Using search terms related to cannabis for pain, the top 66 videos by view count were selected. Each video was classified as useful, misleading, or neither. The quality and reliability of each video were assessed using the modified DISCERN, mDISCERN, score and the Global Quality Scale, GQS. The video characteristics, usefulness classification, mDISCERN scores, and GQS scores were summarized. Continuous and categorical outcomes were compared using -test and chi-square, respectively.

RESULTS

Of the 66 videos, 22.73% (n=15) were classified as useful, and 77.27% (n=51) were classified as neither. Of useful videos, 40.00% (n=6) were uploaded by physicians, 40.00% (n=6) were uploaded by corporations, and 6.67% (n=1) were uploaded by an independent user. Of videos classified as neither useful nor misleading, news sources uploaded 27.45% (n=14) of these videos (P=0.02). Physicians uploaded 37.50% (n = 18) of videos with a GQS score ≥3 (P=0.04), while independent users uploaded significantly more videos with a mDISCERN score <3 (22.20%, P=0.02). Useful videos had a mean GQS of 4.00 ± 0.65 compared to a mean GQS of 2.76 ± 0.86 for videos deemed neither (P<0.0001).

CONCLUSION

This study suggests a moderate quality of YouTube content on cannabis use for chronic pain. Given cannabis's growing popularity and potential for misinformation on popular social media platforms, healthcare professionals and organizations should consider uploading educational videos on this topic on YouTube.