Quality and Engagement of Online Videos About Iron Deficiency:A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Importance: Social media platforms are increasingly used to obtain health information, but the quality of information about iron deficiency and the relationship between creator credentials, information quality, and viewer engagement is unclear. Objective: To evaluate the quality and viewer experience of social media content about iron deficiency and compare videos created by healthcare and non-health care creators. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional analysis, 100 TikTok videos about iron deficiency were evaluated. Videos were categorized according to creator type, including health-care and non-health-care creators. Two reviewers independently assessed videos using DISCERN-based measures of overall quality, relevance or accuracy, and bias. Viewer experience was evaluated using the Armstrong Viewer Assessment (AVA). Reviewer scores were averaged for analysis. The dataset also included likes, comments, and views. Main Outcomes and Measures: Mean DISCERN and AVA scores were compared between health-care and non-health-care creators using two-sided Welch two-sample t tests. P values were adjusted for 7 comparisons using the Bonferroni method. Results: Health-care creators received significantly higher DISCERN scores than non-health-care creators for overall quality (mean [SD], 2.81 [1.05] vs 1.57 [0.77]; Bonferroni-adjusted P < .001), relevance or accuracy (3.29 [1.08] vs 1.90 [0.90]; adjusted P < .001), and bias (1.74 [0.78] vs 1.21 [0.38]; adjusted P = .006). AVA viewer-experience scores were also higher for health-care creators (2.34 [0.69] vs 1.98 [0.84]), butthe difference was not significant after correction for multiple comparisons (adjusted P = .19). Conclusions and Relevance: Iron deficiency content produced by health-care creators were of significantly higher information quality than content produced by non-health-care creators. Viewer- experience did not differ significantly after multiple-comparison correction. These findings highlight the potential value of health-care professional participation in social media health communication and suggest that creator credentials may be an important indicator of information quality for individuals seeking health information online.