It's dangerous to rely on "YouTube videos" for cancer treatment



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The researchers warned that the most popular YouTube videos on cancer treatment offer misleading or biased medical information that may pose risks to the health of patients, the study revealed. 77% had factual errors or biased content in the video section or in the comments section.

While 75% of the videos exhaustively describe the benefits of various treatments, only 53% of them capture enough of the disadvantages and potential side effects.

Another 19% recommended alternative or complementary therapies that have not been proven.

"Our study shows that people really need to be wary of many YouTube videos about prostate cancer," said Stacy Loeb, an badistant professor at the School of Medicine at New York University.

"They contain valuable information, but users need to check the source for credibility and be cautious about the speed with which videos become obsolete, with care guidelines constantly evolving with science. "she added.

A study published in the European Journal of Urology showed that the audience of these videos was important, with an average total audience of 45,000 people, but could reach 1.3 million people. More than 600,000 prostate cancer videos are published on the social media platform.

The videos cite a potentially dangerous example in which a video promised to "inject herbs" into the prostate to treat cancer, an badertion unsupported by medical evidence, the researchers

In addition, only 50 % of videos badyzed describe "shared decision-making", the current standard of care for screening and treating prostate cancer.

According to the guidelines of the American Urological Association of 2017, people aged 55 to 69 years should discuss with their doctor the risks and benefits of screening blood for prostate cancer.

However, many popular videos pre-date this change and also encourage more aggressive treatment than currently considered medically necessary for a low-risk disease, said Loeb.

She suggested that providers refer their patients to reliable sources for prostate cancer information and participate in video-sharing platforms such as YouTube to produce content that provides counseling based on prostate cancer. factual data.

– IANS

rt / mag / bg

(This story was not edited by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)

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