Gout, TikTok and misleading information: a content analysis

Area of Science:

• Social media analysis
• Health communication
• Rheumatology

Background:

• TikTok is a popular social media platform with a growing influence on health information dissemination.
• Understanding the nature of gout-related content on TikTok is crucial for addressing potential misinformation.
• User engagement metrics on social media can indicate the reach and impact of health content.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the types of gout content presented on TikTok.
• To assess the association between gout content characteristics and user engagement.
• To identify potential areas for improving public understanding of gout through social media.

Main Methods:

• A systematic collection of the top 200 TikTok videos using the search term 'gout'.
• Independent coding of videos into categories including account type, presenter, purpose, tone, and content.
• Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses to examine content distribution and engagement associations.

Main Results:

• 116 videos were analyzed, accumulating approximately 426.6 million views.
• Patient or family member presenters were most common (27%), and 38% of videos had negative connotations.
• Management strategies (79%) and risk factors (45%), particularly diet, were the main content categories. Significant engagement differences were found between medical sequelae and management content (P<0.05).

Conclusions:

• A substantial amount of gout information on TikTok may be misleading or inconsistent with clinical guidelines.
• There is a significant opportunity for public health initiatives and healthcare professionals to leverage TikTok.
• Creating accurate content can help counteract misinformation and enhance public comprehension of gout.