Study shows: Tikok videos on high blood pressure often spread alternative healing methods without scientific evidence - American College of Cardiology's 71. Annual Scientific Session

Study shows: Tikok videos on high blood pressure often spread alternative healing methods without scientific evidence - American College of Cardiology's 71. Annual Scientific Session

High Blood Pressure Information on Tikok Lacks Scientific Evidence, Study Finds

A recently published study that was presented at the 71st annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology showed that popular Tikok videos on the subject of high blood pressure often treat alternative medicine and set up claims that are not supported by scientific evidence.

high blood pressure, also called hypertension, is one of the most common risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and strokes in adults in the USA. The researchers examined the content of TikK videos that focus on this topic. They found that 42% of videos treat alternative medicine - more than twice as many as those who focus on medically sound treatments. 14% of the videos mentioned for sale.

Most videos did not contain any explicit source, so the audience could not know whether the information came from a trustworthy source. The majority of the video manufacturers were not medical specialists, and there were only a few cardiologists among the creators.

The researchers, consisting of medical students from West Virginia University and George Washington University under the direction of Arka Chatterjee, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona, analyzed a total of 91 videos with the hashtags #highbloodressure and #hypertension on a single day (October 11, 2021). The final selection of the videos took place from the top 100 videos for every hashtag. Videos that were not in English or had nothing to do with the medical illness were excluded.

Although almost 90% of the videos were classified as educational content, 14% were categorized as advertising. The importance of a healthy diet to control high blood pressure was mentioned in 43% of the videos, while movement, another essential component of a heart -healthy lifestyle, was only mentioned in 5% of the videos.

Medical treatments were mentioned in 14% of the videos, but 42% discussed alternative methods such as plant nutritional supplements, acupuncture or massage techniques that have not shown any improvement in cardiovascular results in recent studies. An example of this is a video that guides the viewers behind the ear 36 times a day to stabilize blood pressure.

Most high -ranking videos were not created by health specialists, and less than half of them came from medical specialists. Among the creators were 22% doctors and 5% cardiologists.

According to Nanda Siva, the main author of the study and medical students in the third year at West Virginia University School of Medicine, it has to be more reprinted on which sources the patients use for information procurement, be it through social media such as YouTube, Tiktok or Twitter. Incorrect information or advice often leads to patients taking their medication. Health specialists should be aware that patients often do not understand the scientific literature they read. You should increase your presence on social media and prepare the information in an understandable manner for the patients.

TIKTOK is a popular social media platform on which users can upload and view video clips. The videos usually have a length of 10-60 seconds, but can be up to 10 minutes long. With 1 billion monthly users, Tiktok has gained importance since its global introduction in 2017. About half of the users are under 30 years old, although the age of the viewers of the examined videos was not examined. The study was limited due to the dependence on video rankings in one day. The mix of the most popular videos can change quickly if new content is viral.

Since health problems such as high blood pressure occur more often with increasing age, social media could play an increasingly important role as an information channel for health issues. It is therefore of great importance for health specialists to be present on social media and to provide the patients with understandable information.

Further information on the subject of high blood pressure can be found at cardiosmart.org/high-blood-pressure.

The study entitled "Evaluating Hypertension-Related Content on Tiktok: A Social Media Analysis" will be presented on Saturday, April 2, at 3:45 p.m. ET / 7:45 PM UTC in Poster Hall.

Source: American College of Cardiology