Quality of Spine Surgery Information on social media: a DISCERN Analysis of Tik Tok Videos

Introduction: The use of social media to disseminate information has substantially risen . Spine and back pain-related hashtags have garnered several billion views on TikTok. These videos, which share experiences, offer entertainment, and educate users about spinal surgery, have become increasingly influential. Here we aim to assess the quality of spine surgery content TikTok.

Methods: Hashtags encompassing spine surgery (“#spinalfusion,” “#scoliosissurgery,” and “#spinaldecompression”) were searched using TikTok’s algorithm, and 50 videos were analyzed for each hashtag. Two independent reviewers rated the quality of each video via the DISCERN questionnaire. Video metadata (likes, shares, comments, views, length) were all collected; type of content creator (musculoskeletal, layperson) and content category (educational, patient experience, entertainment) were determined.

Results: The overall DISCERN score was, on average, 24.4. As defined by views per day, there was no significant difference in popularity between the three hashtags. However, #spinalfusion videos demonstrated greater engagement, higher average likes (92,153 vs. 3,843 vs. 62,945; p=0.02), and more comments (1,053 vs. 33 vs. 355; p< 0.0001) compared to #spinaldecompression and #scoliosissurgery, respectively. #Apinaldecompression had the highest DISCERN score (27 vs. 24 vs. 22; p< 0.0001), likely explained by the higher percentage of videos that were educational (90% vs. 8% vs. 16%; p< 0.0001) and higher percentage created by MSK professionals (62% vs. 8% vs. 6%; p< 0.0001) when compared to both #spinalfusion and #scoliosissurgery. Compared to laypersons, MSK professionals had significantly (27.7 vs. 23.3, p< 0.0001) higher quality videos. Similarly, the educational content category had significantly (26.4 vs. 18.9 vs. 23.9; p< 0.0001) higher quality videos. However, video interaction trended lower with MSK videos compared to Layperson; and educational videos had the lowest interaction of the content category (likes: 6,576 vs. 75,343 vs. 82.322; p=0.023, comments: 77 vs. 412 vs. 774; p=0.005).

Conclusion : The quality of spine surgery videos on TikTok is low. #Spinaldecompression had higher quality videos than #spinalfusion or #scoliosissurgery though were less interacted with. MSK videos and educational videos were of higher quality but also experienced less engagement. As the influence of the new social media landscape governs how the average person consumes their information, MSK providers should participate in disseminating high-quality content.