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A study by researchers at the School of Medicine at New York University (NYU) shows that the most popular YouTube videos about prostate cancer often contain misleading or biased medical information that presents potential risks for the health of patients.
In collaboration with the Perlmutter Cancer Center at New York University, the team analyzed the 150 most watched YouTube videos on the disease and found that 77% of the videos contained factual errors or biased content, which either in the comments section or in this section.
The researchers said that the YouTube audience of these videos was wide, with an average audience of 45,000 viewers and an average of 1.3 million listeners. More than 600,000 prostate cancer videos are published on the social media platform.
"Our study shows that people really need to be wary of many YouTube videos about prostate cancer," says Stacy Loeb, an emergency researcher and urologist, who chairs a panel of social media experts from the US. American Urological Association (AAU).
"They contain valuable information, but users need to check the source for credibility and be suspicious of the speed with which videos become obsolete as care guidelines evolve with science." , added Loeb.
The study also revealed that 75% of the videos exhaustively described the benefits of various treatments, while only 53% took sufficient account of the damage and potential side effects.
In addition, according to the authors of the study, 19% of the content recommended alternative or complementary therapies that were mostly unproven, with the study citing a potentially dangerous example in which a video promoted a " injection of herbs' into the prostate to treat cancer. – an assertion not supported by medical evidence.
According to Loeb, only half of the videos analyzed describe "shared decision-making", which is the current standard of care for the screening and treatment of prostate cancer in the United States.
The latest US guidelines, revised last year, recommend that men age 55 to 69 talk to their doctor about the risks and benefits of screening for prostate cancer. Loeb says that many popular videos pre-date this change and encourage more aggressive treatment, which is now considered medically necessary for low-risk diseases.
Loeb advised healthcare providers to refer patients to reliable sources, such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation and National Cancer Institute websites, and encourages other physicians and providers to participate in social media platforms such as YouTube to produce videos offering factual advice.
For their latest analysis, Loeb and his team (which included social media experts) assessed the educational value of each video based on more than a dozen features, including the accuracy, level of Disinformation and trade bias, Loeb noting that earlier studies on smaller and did not use standardized techniques to evaluate their content.
The study was published in the journal European urology online.
In October, researchers and scientists from the University of Portsmouth announced the development of a robot, used as a new "weapon of choice" for the detection and treatment of prostate cancer.
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