[ad_1]
Confidence in "YouTube Videos" for Cancer Treatment Dangerous & nbsp | & nbspPhoto Source: & nbspThinkstock
New York: Researchers warn that the most popular cancer treatment videos on YouTube contain misleading or biased medical information that poses potential health risks to patients . The study, which looks at the 150 most-watched YouTube videos on prostate cancer, found that 77% of them had factual errors or biased content, either in the video section or in the game. reserved for comments.
While 75% of the videos fully described the benefits of various treatments, only 53% adequately captured the disadvantages and potential side effects. 19% recommend alternative or complementary treatments 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 School of New York. Drug. "They contain valuable information, but people need to check the source for credibility and be suspicious of the speed with which videos become obsolete as care guidelines evolve with science." she added.
The 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 up to 1.3 million. 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 was promoting "injection of herbs" into the prostate to treat cancer, an badertion unsupported by medical evidence, researchers c & # Is noted. In addition, only 50% of the 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, men aged 55 to 69 should talk to their doctors about the risks and benefits of screening blood for prostate cancer through blood tests.
However, many popular videos predate this change and also encourage more aggressive treatment than is currently considered medically necessary, Loeb said.
She suggested that healthcare providers refer their patients to reliable sources of information about prostate cancer and take part in video-sharing platforms like YouTube to produce content that offers advice. based on factual data.
[ad_2]
Source link
