YouTube lens to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a social media analysis

OBJECTIVE: Social media has provided an online environment for patients to discuss regarding their health and seek medical information. The primary aim of our study was to analyze the quality of information shared on YouTube regarding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). RESULTS: More than half of the videos, 91 (57.23%) had duration of fewer than 5 min. Only 8 (5.03%) videos were rated as highly useful whereas 61 (38.36%) videos were misleading. Interestingly, there was a significant higher (1203.38 ± 395) likes in the misleading group of videos, compared to 162.13 ± 169.63 likes in the very useful group, P = 0.012. Only a small fraction of videos had very useful information on ADHD. There is a need for high-quality, evidence-based, educational videos on ADHD for patient education. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3962-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.