Assessment of the quality and reliability of public health communication about hypertension on short video platforms in China.
Hypertension is one of the major modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in China. Persistent and poorly controlled hypertension contributes to a wide spectrum of adverse cardiovascular outcomes, yet public awareness and understanding of the condition remain suboptimal. With the rapid expansion of digital media, social platforms have emerged as important channels for disseminating health information. This study evaluates the quality of hypertension-related content presented in short-video formats on widely used social media platforms.
Newly registered accounts were used to retrieve the top 100 videos from Douyin, Bilibili, and Kwai based on each platform's default comprehensive ranking algorithm. The collected videos were subsequently screened following predefined criteria, which included removal of duplicates, silent clips, advertisements, irrelevant content, and non-Chinese language videos. In addition, videos produced by the same creator on the same platform were consolidated into a single entry to avoid redundancy. The reliability of the videos was assessed using the DISCERN instrument, and their overall quality was evaluated with the Global Quality Scale (GQS). A comparative analysis was further performed to examine differences in video characteristics and quality across the three short-video platforms.
A total of 267 videos from various creators were included in the analysis, with Douyin contributing 36.3% (140/267), Bilibili 31.1% (83/267), and Kwai 32.6% (87/267). With respect to video sources, non-specialist physicians produced the largest proportion of content (52.4%, 140/267), followed by specialist physicians (31.5%, 84/267). In the assessment of overall video quality, Bilibili demonstrated the highest completeness scores (p < 0.001). Douyin and Bilibili demonstrated comparable Global Quality Scores (GQS) and both performed significantly better than Kwai (p < 0.001). Nevertheless, all three platforms exhibited uniformly low DISCERN scores. When comparing creators with different professional backgrounds, videos produced by non-profit organizations and specialist physicians showed significantly higher overall quality than those generated by non-specialist physicians and individual users.
Overall, the quality of the videos was suboptimal. Although hypertension-related content produced by nonprofit organizations and cardiovascular specialists achieved higher scores in overall quality, the presentation of these videos was relatively uniform. This homogeneity limited the breadth of hypertension-related knowledge that viewers could obtain from short-video platforms.
Newly registered accounts were used to retrieve the top 100 videos from Douyin, Bilibili, and Kwai based on each platform's default comprehensive ranking algorithm. The collected videos were subsequently screened following predefined criteria, which included removal of duplicates, silent clips, advertisements, irrelevant content, and non-Chinese language videos. In addition, videos produced by the same creator on the same platform were consolidated into a single entry to avoid redundancy. The reliability of the videos was assessed using the DISCERN instrument, and their overall quality was evaluated with the Global Quality Scale (GQS). A comparative analysis was further performed to examine differences in video characteristics and quality across the three short-video platforms.
A total of 267 videos from various creators were included in the analysis, with Douyin contributing 36.3% (140/267), Bilibili 31.1% (83/267), and Kwai 32.6% (87/267). With respect to video sources, non-specialist physicians produced the largest proportion of content (52.4%, 140/267), followed by specialist physicians (31.5%, 84/267). In the assessment of overall video quality, Bilibili demonstrated the highest completeness scores (p < 0.001). Douyin and Bilibili demonstrated comparable Global Quality Scores (GQS) and both performed significantly better than Kwai (p < 0.001). Nevertheless, all three platforms exhibited uniformly low DISCERN scores. When comparing creators with different professional backgrounds, videos produced by non-profit organizations and specialist physicians showed significantly higher overall quality than those generated by non-specialist physicians and individual users.
Overall, the quality of the videos was suboptimal. Although hypertension-related content produced by nonprofit organizations and cardiovascular specialists achieved higher scores in overall quality, the presentation of these videos was relatively uniform. This homogeneity limited the breadth of hypertension-related knowledge that viewers could obtain from short-video platforms.