Cancer misinformation on TikTok could be harmful to women’s health

Tens of millions of ladies are turning to the social media platform TikTok for well being recommendation associated to gynecologic cancers, however the majority of that data is deceptive or dramatically inaccurate, based on a brand new examine printed by The Ohio State College Complete Most cancers Middle—Arthur G. James Most cancers Hospital and Richard J. Solove Analysis Institute within the journal Gynecologic Oncology.

Senior examine creator Laura Chambers, DO, says this highlights the facility of social media to feed misinformation that could possibly be dangerous to affected person well being outcomes, however it additionally presents a possibility to handle gaps much less more likely to come up throughout a clinic appointment.

Chambers was enthusiastic about studying extra in regards to the unstated considerations of her sufferers, who are sometimes moms and younger ladies. She wished to grasp how these sufferers have been utilizing social media, what data they have been sharing and the way they’re consuming that data.

“The intent of this examine was to grasp the wants of sufferers which will go unstated within the clinic however signify gaps in care that want addressed,” says Chambers, an osteopathic doctor on the OSUCCC—James. “As docs, we’re centered on remedy toxicities and affected person outcomes, however a lot of our sufferers are navigating actually tough challenges at dwelling—like determining tips on how to present their baby love and a focus when they’re going by way of fatiguing therapies.”

For this new examine, the staff systematically looked for the five hundred hottest TikTok posts and analyzed the highest 5 hashtags for every associated to gynecologic most cancers (ovarian, endometrial, cervical and vulvar cancers, in addition to gestational trophoblastic illness) for key themes, high quality of data and reliability of gynecologic cancer-related content material on the social media platform, TikTok. Demographic data, message tone and thematic matters have been collected.

Academic movies have been rated for high quality utilizing a longtime well being schooling data scale. As of August 2022, the highest 5 hashtags for every gynecologic most cancers had greater than 466 million views.

The researchers discovered that, general, the standard of the knowledge being shared by way of TikTok was poor and no less than 73% of content material was inaccurate and of poor instructional high quality. Racial disparities in gynecologic most cancers prolonged into this social media area.

“This knowledge impressed a whole lot of questions on the place to go subsequent in addressing these inaccuracies and speaking with sufferers straight, particularly specializing in alternatives to create extra various content material to beat racial and cultural disparities associated to remedy of those cancers,” says Chambers.

“The vulnerability proven in social media content material round private cancer journeys is inspiring, however this knowledge actually encourages us to ask, as a medical communityhow we will present a care setting that encourages that type of belief and actual dialog with sufferers? And what can we do, as a broader group, to supply high quality well being data and support services to sufferers looking for details about gynecologic cancers?”

Chambers encourages sufferers who need a group of like-minded individuals going by way of related experiences to hunt out in-person and on-line help communities sponsored by respected medical and affected person advocacy organizations.

These findings have been additionally introduced in two poster shows on the 2023 Annual Assembly for the Society of Gynecologic Oncology in Tampa, Florida.