Abdomen 2015; 2: e953. doi: 10.14800/Abdomen.953; © 2015 by Nancy Gupta, et al. http://www.smartscitech.com/index.php/Abdomen Page 1 of 7 Quality assessment of YouTube videos as a source of information on Colonoscopy Nancy Gupta 1 , Gurpratap Sandhu 2 , Arun Aggarwal 3 , Harkirat Singh 4 , Forman Leanne 1 1 Department of Medicine, Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 2 Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 3 Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 4 Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA Correspondence: Nancy Gupta E-mail: drnancygupta87@gmail.com Received: August 08, 2015 Published online: September 02, 2015 Background: Wide variability exists in quality of health related information posted across social media. You Tube is the most frequently visited site for video informatics. In this study we assessed the quality of information available on YouTube regarding colonoscopy. Methods: The YouTube search engine was queried on Oct 21, 2014 under the term “Colonoscopy”. Analysis was restricted to English language, medical videos of first 10 pages of search results, generating a total of 186 videos. Videos were classified into 8 categories: intra-procedure videos, patient education, healthcare provider education, patient testimonial, public awareness, post colonoscopy patient videos, patients having colonoscopy and unrelated videos. Number of views and viewer ratings were noted. Results: Of the 186 videos reviewed: 41 were intra-procedure videos, 34 were patient education, 27 related to health care provider education, 24 were patient testimonials, 22 aimed at raising public awareness, 15 were post colonoscopy videos, 3 videos depicted patients undergoing colonoscopy and 20 unrelated. The maximum number of views was generated for intra-procedure videos followed by the videos of patients undergoing colonoscopy, although this category only had 3 videos. The ratio of likes over dislikes was highest for patient testimonials. Conclusion: Patients searching for information regarding colonoscopy on YouTube will be presented with a sizeable, overall poor quality and non peer reviewed content. The study highlights the need on YouTube for evidence based, easy to understand videos addressing various aspects of colonoscopy, possibly sponsored by professional medical societies. Keywords: YouTube; colonoscopy; education; internet; social media; e-health To cite this article: Nancy Gupta, et al. Quality assessment of YouTube videos as a source of information on Colonoscopy. Abdomen 2015; 2: e953. doi: 10.14800/Abdomen.953. Introduction Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and second major cause of cancer related mortality and death in the United States [1] . CRC is the perfect example of multistage development [2] , where it progresses through the stage of polyp, adenoma and carcinoma before it finally metastasizes. Precancerous polyps and colorectal cancer are usually asymptomatic during the initial stages, making screening colonoscopy an essential tool to detect colorectal cancer while it is still confined to the colon. If caught in the initial stages, colorectal cancer has a potential for cure. Colonoscopy permits endoscopic evaluation of the entire colorectum. Besides being used as a screening tool, therapeutic procedures like polypectomies can be performed during the baseline procedure. While Colonoscopy is recommended by both the United States Preventative Services Task Force and the American College of Gastroenterology, the rate of colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy remains less than optimal. One of the reasons RESEARCH ARTICLE