The quality and reliability of short videos about uremia on Bilibili and TikTok in China: A cross sectional study

Uremia is the end-stage of chronic kidney disease, characterized by the irreversible loss of kidney function and the systemic accumulation of metabolic waste products, which severely impairs patients’ quality of life. In recent years, TikTok and Bilibili have gradually become important sources of health information for patients. This study aimed to evaluate the quality and reliability of uremia-related short videos on these 2 platforms. The top 150 uremia-related videos from the default rankings of each platform were collected, and their general characteristics and engagement metrics were recorded. The global quality scale (GQS) and the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) instrument were used for evaluation. The Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test were applied to compare differences across groups, and Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to examine associations between video duration, engagement metrics, and quality parameters. A total of 234 videos were included (TikTok: 124; Bilibili: 110). Most videos primarily focused on treatment (28.57%), while critical information, such as epidemiology (3.57%) and diagnostic criteria (11.02%), was underrepresented. The overall median GQS score was 2.00 (interquartile range: 2.00–3.00), and the median mDISCERN score was 2.00 (interquartile range: 2.00–3.00). TikTok videos demonstrated significantly higher user engagement and higher GQS scores compared to Bilibili (median: 3 vs 2, P < .05). Videos uploaded by specialists (board-certified physicians, including nephrologists and other medical specialists) achieved the highest GQS and mDISCERN scores ( P < .05). No significant correlations were found between user engagement metrics and content quality scores ( P > .05). This study revealed that uremia-related short videos on TikTok and Bilibili were structurally incomplete, with generally suboptimal quality and reliability, though videos uploaded by specialists demonstrated the highest quality. In the future, platforms should strengthen content supervision, improve the structural integrity of video content, and encourage the active participation of specialists to enhance public access to high-quality medical information.