Presented by: Bassel Salka Student
University of Michigan

Introduction

The incidence of kidney stones continues to increase despite strong evidence of medical prevention of stone formation. As a result, patient education has emerged as a primary tool of urologists to prevent recurrence. With many patients seeking health information online, little is known regarding the quality of kidney stone prevention information available today. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of kidney stone prevention information online.

Materials

We analyzed the first 50 results of the search term “kidney stone prevention” on the most popular search engine (Google), long-form media player (YouTube), short-form media player (TikTok) and social media platform (Instagram). Only content in English, related to the topic, and with greater than 1,000 views (when available) were included. Video quality was assessed utilizing DISCERN, a tool used to appraise consumer health information, and the proportion of content that accurately represents AUA medical management guidelines.

Results

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The average DISCERN score was statistically greatest on Google (60.1) followed by Youtube (40.4), TikTok (26.6) and Instagram (28.8). The most common type of content creator was Health Systems on Google (72%), physician personal creator on YouTube (56%), and non-physician personal creator on TikTok (84%) and Instagram (56%). TikTok shows a significantly different DISCERN score between healthcare/physician creators and non-physician creators. Table 1 shows the percent of videos that accurately describe AUA guidelines.

Conclusion

Kidney stone prevention content on the Internet is strongest on Google. The majority of videos on TikTok and Instagram are of low quality and fail to address AUA guidelines. Increased engagement on these platforms by urologists can improve education.

Funding

No funding

Lead Authors

Roshan Patel, MD
University of California Irvine

Co-Authors

Nadir Al-Saidi, Student
University of Michigan

Dawan Naqshabandi,
Michigan State University

Belgin Kazkaz,
Oakland University

Antonio Gorgen, MD
University of California Irvine