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Open Access 01-12-2024 | Thyroid Cancer | Research

Contents analysis of thyroid cancer-related information uploaded to YouTube by physicians in Korea: endorsing thyroid cancer screening, potentially leading to overdiagnosis

Authors: EunKyo Kang, HyoRim Ju, Soojeong Kim, Juyoung Choi

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2024

Abstract

Background

Thyroid cancer overdiagnosis is a major public health issue in South Korea, which has the highest incidence rate. The accessibility of information through the Internet, particularly on YouTube, could potentially impact excessive screening. This study aimed to analyze the content of thyroid cancer-related YouTube videos, particularly those from 2016 onwards, to evaluate the potential spread of misinformation.

Methods

A total of 326 videos for analysis were collected using a video search protocol with the keyword “thyroid cancer” on YouTube. This study classified the selected YouTube videos as either provided by medical professionals or not and used topic clustering with LDA (latent dirichlet allocation), sentiment analysis with KoBERT (Korean bidirectional encoder representations from transformers), and reliability evaluation to analyze the content. The proportion of mentions of poor prognosis for thyroid cancer and the categorization of advertising content was also analyzed.

Results

Videos by medical professionals were categorized into 7 topics, with “Thyroid cancer is not a ‘Good cancer’” being the most common. The number of videos opposing excessive thyroid cancer screening decreased gradually yearly. Videos advocating screening received more favorable comments from viewers than videos opposing excessive thyroid cancer screening. Patient experience videos were categorized into 6 topics, with the “Treatment process and after-treatment” being the most common.

Conclusion

This study found that a significant proportion of videos uploaded by medical professionals on thyroid cancer endorse the practice, potentially leading to excessive treatments. The study highlights the need for medical professionals to provide high-quality and unbiased information on social media platforms to prevent the spread of medical misinformation and the need for criteria to judge the content and quality of online health information.

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Title: Contents analysis of thyroid cancer-related information uploaded to YouTube by physicians in Korea: endorsing thyroid cancer screening, potentially leading to overdiagnosis
Authors: EunKyo Kang
HyoRim Ju
Soojeong Kim
Juyoung Choi
Publication date: 01-12-2024
Publisher: BioMed Central
Keywords: Thyroid Cancer
Thyroid Cancer
Thyroid Cancer
Published in: BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2024
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18403-2

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Contents analysis of thyroid cancer-related information uploaded to YouTube by physicians in Korea: endorsing thyroid cancer screening, potentially leading to overdiagnosis

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

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