Gout, TikTok and misleading information: a content analysis

This study aims to explore what types of gout content are presented on the social media platform TikTok and assess their association with user engagement.

The top 200 TikTok videos captured using the search term 'gout' were collected. Two independent researchers coded the videos into eight main categories: account type, presenter, audio, video type, purpose, tone, overall connotation and gout content. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted to examine the distribution of variables and examine the association between gout content and engagement. Quotations were selected to reinforce some of the findings.

In total, 116 TikTok videos were included in the final analysis after excluding 84 non-relevant videos. The total number of views of the videos was ≈426.6 million, with the majority belonging to content creators from the USA. The most common presenters were patients with gout or close family members (27%). Approximately 38% of videos had negative connotations, with the most common purpose of videos being health advice (38%). The main content categories coded were management strategies (79%) and risk factors (45%), focusing overwhelmingly on diet. A significant difference in engagement was evident between gout medical sequelae and gout management (P < 0.05) only.

This analysis found that there is a wide range of information being promoted on TikTok that may be misleading or inconsistent with rheumatology guidelines. Future public health strategies and health professionals have an opportunity to utilise TikTok as a platform to create content, counteract misinformation and improve public understanding of gout.