Blood or buzz? Decoding the quality of CBC-related short videos on Chinese platforms.

BACKGROUND

The complete cell count (CBC) is a fundamental diagnostic tool in clinical practice and is essential for screening and managing diseases such as anemia, infections, and malignant blood disorders. In China, a rapidly aging population and a growing burden of chronic diseases have increased the demand for accessible health knowledge resources. Short videos have now become a popular channel for medical information dissemination. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the overall quality and credibility of videos about CBC in China.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess the information quality of CBC-related videos on short video sharing platforms in China.

METHODS

We searched for short videos that popularize the main knowledge of CBC posted on three short video platforms in China that are currently accessed with a large amount of information: Douyin, Bilibili, and Rednote. A total of 242 relevant videos were retrieved, and we collected, processed, and analyzed the authors and basic information of all videos. The quality and reliability of their contents were assessed by using the Global Quality Score scale, the Modified DISCERN Medical Video Quality Evaluation Tool. Subsequently, short video platforms as well as video publishers were analyzed and compared descriptively as a whole. Potential correlations between general video information and video quality and reliability were analyzed by Spearman's correlation coefficient.

RESULTS

The quality of online videos provided by short video platforms showed a moderate level of quality (just 49.5% met the high-quality level criterion), and the completeness of their content, as well as their reliability was average (only 28.9% of videos met the reliability criterion). Further results on group comparisons showed that videos from healthcare professionals were better than those from non-healthcare professionals in terms of content comprehensiveness, reliability, and quality. Additionally, we observed a positive correlation between the production length of the video and video quality; however, there was no significant correlation between video likes and comments, etc., and video quality.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study suggest that the overall quality and reliability of short videos about CBC-related content in current short video platforms are still significantly deficient. It is recommended that viewers should treat this content with caution. Among them, videos posted from medical personnel are more instructive. Nevertheless, video-based popularization of medical knowledge still holds promise. The overall quality and reliability of medical information shared on short video platforms can be improved by implementing appropriate strategies.