Public-Facing Short Videos on Paediatric General Anaesthesia and Child Neurodevelopment: Quality, Misinformation and...

Caregivers may encounter short videos about paediatric general anaesthesia and neurodevelopment before consultation. We assessed their quality, reliability, usability and misinformation patterns, and considered the implications for parent-centred risk communication.

On 15 August 2025, we used newly created accounts to retrieve the first 100 results from Douyin and Bilibili for two Chinese search terms. Two anaesthesiologists independently assessed eligible videos using GQS, MQ-VET, JAMA benchmarks, mDISCERN and PEMAT-A/V. A pre-search PPIE consultation, conducted through brief one-to-one discussions with 10 family contributors, informed study framing and parent-facing interpretation.

Of 200 retrieved videos, 95 were included (Douyin, n = 74; Bilibili, n = 21). Douyin videos attracted more engagement, but quality did not differ by platform. Videos uploaded by anaesthesiologists, hospitals and news agencies tended to score higher than those uploaded by non-anaesthesiologists in several domains, although these subgroup comparisons were exploratory. Misinformation occurred in 51 videos (53.7%); false safety assurances were most common (43/95, 45.3%). After false-discovery-rate correction, stratified analyses showed no significant differences by platform or uploader. Engagement was not a reliable indicator of quality, whereas video duration was positively correlated with mDISCERN, GQS and MQ-VET.

Short videos were readily accessible but uneven in reliability and transparency. Popularity did not indicate quality. Preoperative communication should address online information, correct binary claims, explain exposure-related modifiers and direct families to trustworthy clinician-produced resources. Caregiver exposure and decision outcomes were not measured.

Ten family contributors took part in brief one-to-one PPIE consultations during pre-anaesthesia assessment. Their advice supported the use of lay search language and the parent-facing interpretation of omissions and false reassurance. Contributors did not review or score videos, and their views were not treated as individual-level research data.