Basit Ali Chaudhry (Copenhagen/ DK), Thien Phu Do (Copenhagen/ DK), Håkan Ashina (Copenhagen/ DK), Messoud Ashina (Copenhagen/ DK), Faisal Mohammad Amin (Copenhagen/ DK)
Abstract text (incl. figure legends and references)
Background: In clinical practice, patients with cluster headache often ask questions or mention information that they have seen or heard on the Internet. Since YouTube (www.youtube.com) is the second most visited Web site worldwide and offers a plethora of video content, we found it timely to ascertain the quality of information on cluster headache that is freely available on YouTube.
Methods: We conducted an inquiry on YouTube on January 24, 2022, with the search term "cluster headache". Eligible YouTube videos included those with ≥10.000 views and content related to cluster headache. We assessed the quality and reliability of the videos with the Global Quality Scale and DISCERN, respectively.
Results: The search strategy identified 644 videos of which 134 were eligible for inclusion. The sources of the included videos were categorized as "Healthcare Professional/Institution" (n=45), "Personal Experience" (n=52), and "Other" (n=37). According to the Global Quality Scale, 70 (52%) were low quality, 34 (25%) were of moderate quality and 30 (22%) were of high quality. According to DISCERN, 104 (78%) were of low reliability, 28 (21%) were of moderate reliability and 2 (1%) were of high reliability.
Conclusion: The quality and reliability of cluster headache-related information on YouTube has room for improvement, even the content provided by healthcare providers. These findings should incentivize stakeholders, e.g., governmental services, professional societies, healthcare providers, to provide accessible and better information on cluster headache.