A cross-sectional study evaluates video quality and impact on user engagement about hemorrhoids on TikTok, indicating potential for better health information delivery.
Background Social media like TikTok serve as major channels for sharing health information on hemorrhoids. However, little is known about the quality, reliability, and impact of this content on user decisions. Objective Our study aims to evaluate the quality and reliability of hemorrhoid-related videos on Chinese TikTok. Methods On August 7, 2025, we systematically searched Chinese TikTok using relevant keywords and identified the 192 most-liked hemorrhoid-related videos. Two independent reviewers assessed each video using the Global Quality Score (GQS), the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) score, and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria. User engagement metrics (total likes, comments, saves, and shares), video length, and upload date were recorded. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to explore the association between quality scores and engagement metrics. Results Overall, 87 videos were included and accumulated 6,599,153 likes. Of these, 25.29% (n = 22) were classified as low quality, 40.23% (n = 35) as moderate quality, and 34.48% (n = 30) as high quality. Most videos (74.71%, n = 65) were uploaded by certified physicians, who contributed the majority of high-quality content (93.34%), whereas low-quality content mainly originated from general users (54.54%). Videos uploaded by certified physicians demonstrated significantly higher quality and reliability than those from non-physicians ( p < 0.0001). Significant differences were observed across quality groups in video length and daily averages of likes, comments, and shares ( p < 0.001, p = 0.031, p < 0.001, and p = 0.022, respectively). High-quality videos were the longest, while low-quality videos received the highest engagement. Moreover, video length showed a significantly positive correlation with both the GQS (r = 0.56, p < 0.001) and the mDISCERN score (r = 0.37, p < 0.001). Conclusion The quality and reliability of hemorrhoid-related videos on Chinese TikTok are moderate. To improve health information quality, TikTok could consider extending video length as appropriate, strengthening content moderation, and encouraging creators to reference authoritative sources.
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Lu et al. (2026) studied this question.
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