Epilepsy Videos on YouTube: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 15; no. 8; p. e43916
• Main Authors: Bhoot, Netra, Gohil, Aasvi V, Usgaokar, Kapil, Ranpariya, Keyur, Yadav, Rakshit, Nanda, Ankita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto Cureus Inc 22.08.2023; Cureus
• Subjects: Convulsions & seizures; Epilepsy; Families & family life; Hospitals; Information dissemination; Internal Medicine; Mortality; Neurology; Neurosurgery; Observational studies; Pharmaceutical industry; Physicians; Prevention; Quality of life; Social networks; Statistical analysis; Support groups; United States > US
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.43916
• ISSN: 2168-8184

Introduction: Epilepsy is defined as a disorder of the brain characterized by an enduring predisposition to epileptic seizures. Being the most common neurological condition in the world, information regarding epilepsy is gathered by people from different available sources.Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability and quality of YouTube videos about epilepsy as a source of information for the general population and also for patients suffering from this illness and for their families.Methodology: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted, utilizing a questionnaire prepared on Google Forms (Google LLC, Mountain View, California, United States) with predetermined criteria. Each of the six authors independently searched and evaluated 10 YouTube videos using specific keywords. The assessment included determining the global quality score and utilizing the DISCERN tool. The collected data was recorded in Microsoft Excel and subsequently analyzed.Results: A total of 60 videos were analyzed, revealing that 76.27% of them provided information on the available treatment options for epilepsy, 71.19% explained the cause and etiology of the condition, and only 3.39% of the videos mentioned support groups.Conclusions: Our study highlights the importance of assessment of medical information on social media platforms in order to ensure availability of correct information with high quality and reliability for epilepsy patients. This will help in understanding their medical health issues and decision making.