Most Spironolactone TikTok Videos Lack Reliability, Quality

TOPLINE:

A review of the top 50 TikTok videos about spironolactone for treating acne revealed that most were patient testimonials, with overall poor reliability and quality scores.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed the top 50 TikTok videos tagged with ‘#spironolactone’ on December 11, 2023, at which time videos linked to this hashtag overall had accumulated 108 million total views.
• Two independent reviewers scored videos using the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) and Global Quality Scale (GQS) tools, assessing reliability and quality with both tools having a maximum score of 5.

TAKEAWAY:

• Patient testimonials constituted 78% of the videos, while educational content made up 20% (10/50), with eight (20%) of these educational videos created by dermatologists, and one (2%) a documentary.
• Educational videos garnered the highest average views (mean, 370,828), followed by the documentary (mean, 264,200) and testimonial videos (mean, 220,627) videos.
• Educational videos achieved significantly higher reliability scores compared with testimonial videos (modified DISCERN score, 3 vs 1; P
• Quality scores were significantly higher for educational videos (GQS, 4) than for both the documentary (GQS, 1; P = .0254) and testimonial videos (GQS, 2; P

IN PRACTICE:

“Despite the platform’s potential for widespread educational impact, the predominance of low-quality patient testimonials highlights the risk of misinformation, which could adversely affect patient decision-making and health outcomes. Educational videos produced by dermatologists show promise in providing accurate information, but there is a need for greater consistency and thoroughness,” the authors wrote. These findings, they added, “underscore the importance of developing standardized guidelines for healthcare providers engaging with social media, as well as the critical role of comprehensive counseling in clinical settings.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Savanna I. Vidal, Department of Dermatology, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC. It was published online on January 17 in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology.

LIMITATIONS:

The authors did not list any limitations.

DISCLOSURES:

This work was funded through research grants to Vidal and another author from Galderma, Incyte, and Johnson & Johnson. The other authors reported no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.