YouTube videos provide low-quality educational content about rotator cuff disease

BACKGROUND: YouTube has become a popular source of healthcare information in orthopedic surgery. Although quality-based studies of YouTube content have been performed for information concerning many orthopedic pathologies, the quality and accuracy of information on the rotator cuff have yet to be evaluated. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the reliability and educational content of YouTube videos concerning the rotator cuff. METHODS: YouTube was queried for the term “rotator cuff.” The first 50 videos from this search were evaluated. Video reliability was assessed using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria (range, 0–5). Educational content was assessed using the global quality score (GQS; range, 0–4) and the rotator cuff-specific score (RCSS; range, 0–22). RESULTS: The mean number of views was 317,500.7±538,585.3. The mean JAMA, GQS, and RCSS scores were 2.7±2.0, 3.7±1.0, and 5.6±3.6, respectively. Non-surgical intervention content was independently associated with a lower GQS (β=–2.19, p=0.019). Disease-specific video content (β=4.01, p=0.045) was the only independent predictor of RCSS. CONCLUSIONS: The overall quality and educational content of YouTube videos concerned with the rotator cuff were low. Physicians should caution patients in using such videos as resources for decision-making and should counsel them appropriately.