Quality and reliability of vascular cognitive impairment-related information on Chinese social media platforms

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) severely affects patients' quality of life and imposes a substantial burden on families and society. Health education on VCI is an effective approach for preventing and slowing disease progression. Currently, short videos and WeChat official account articles demonstrate significant potential in disseminating health information. However, no evaluation of the quality and content of VCI-related information on these platforms currently exists. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional assessment of VCI-related information quality on the Chinese platforms TikTok, Bilibili, and WeChat official accounts. A total of 72 Chinese short videos from short video platforms (TikTok and Bilibili) and 61 articles from WeChat official accounts were screened for inclusion. The quality and reliability of the videos and articles were evaluated using the Global Quality Scale (GQS), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, and Discern Instrument for Systematically Critical Evaluation of Reliable Nealth Information. Content completeness was assessed on the basis of established VCI guidelines. Comparative analyses were conducted on information from various platforms and publishers. The scores of WeChat official account articles were significantly greater than those of short videos across all the metrics: Discern Instrument for Systematically Critical Evaluation of Reliable Nealth Information score (48.57 ± 7.33 vs 39.10 ± 6.35, P < .001), GQS score (median 4.00 [IQR 3.00-4.00] vs 3.00 [2.00-3.00], P < .001), JAMA score (median 1.00 [1.00-2.00] vs 1.00 [1.00-1.00], P < .001), and total content score (6.52 ± 1.79 vs 4.38 ± 1.91, P < .001). Short videos on TikTok had higher total content scores than those on Bilibili did (4.94 ± 1.98 vs 3.69 ± 1.59, t = 2.90; P = .004). Videos and articles published by doctors, medical institutions, and healthcare vertical media achieved significantly higher total content and JAMA and GQS scores than those published by general individuals did. The overall quality of VCI-related short videos and articles was moderate. Compared with short videos, WeChat official account articles demonstrated higher quality and superior content completeness. Short videos on TikTok outperformed those on Bilibili in content scoring. Information from doctors, medical institutions, and healthcare vertical media publishers was of higher quality than that from ordinary individual publishers.