Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives

Marina E. Eremeeva

1 Article

Lyme Disease and YouTubeTM: A Cross-Sectional Study of Video Contents: Corey H. Basch, Lindsay A. Mullican, Kwanza D. Boone, Jingjing Yin, Alyssa Berdnik, Marina E. Eremeeva, Isaac Chun-Hai Fung; Osong Public Health Res Perspect. 2017;8(4):289-292. Published online August 31, 2017; DOI: https://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2017.8.4.10

Abstract PDF Supplementary Material: Objectives
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease. People seek health information on Lyme disease from YouTube^TM videos. In this study, we investigated if the contents of Lyme disease-related YouTube^TM videos varied by their sources.
Methods
Most viewed English YouTube^TM videos (n = 100) were identified and manually coded for contents and sources.
Results
Within the sample, 40 videos were consumer-generated, 31 were internet-based news, 16 were professional, and 13 were TV news. Compared with consumer-generated videos, TV news videos were more likely to mention celebrities (odds ratio [OR], 10.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.13–52.58), prevention of Lyme disease through wearing protective clothing (OR, 5.63; 95% CI, 1.23–25.76), and spraying insecticides (OR, 7.71; 95% CI, 1.52–39.05).
Conclusion
A majority of the most popular Lyme disease-related YouTube^TM videos were not created by public health professionals. Responsible reporting and creative video-making facilitate Lyme disease education. Partnership with YouTube^TM celebrities to co-develop educational videos may be a future direction.

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