Quality and reliability of lung cancer–related short videos in China: a cross-sectional content analysis study

Lung cancer has emerged as one of the most prevalent diseases in China in recent years, leading to heightened public concerns regarding its substantial disease burden. Short videos on lung cancer are disseminated through TikTok, Bilibili and Redbook apps, which have become an easily accessible source of seeking health information. However, the informational quality, accuracy and reliability of short videos remain systematically unexamined. In January 1st, 2026, we screened the lung cancer-related videos and assessed the basic information presented in them on TikTok, Bilibili and Redbook platforms ultimately enrolling a total of 300 videos. The quality of the content was assessed using the Global Quality Score (GQS) and modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) tools. Inter-rater reliability was assessed by Cohen’s κ. Correlation and Poisson regression analyses were performed. Statistically, the quality and reliability of lung cancer videos hosted on Bilibili were higher than those on TikTok and Redbook (all P < 0.05). Regarding video sources, the GQS scores of videos uploaded by news agencies were significantly lower than those of videos posted by science communications and for-profit organizations in the field of lung cancer (all P < 0.05). In terms of video content, videos focusing on late symptoms showed lower scores than those on early signals. Inter-rater reliability was substantial (κ = 0.82 for GQS, κ = 0.80 for mDISCERN). No video variables significantly predicted quality scores in regression models. The present study demonstrates that the quality of lung cancer-related health information short videos on three major Chinese platforms, TikTok, Bilibili and Redbook, is generally suboptimal. However, videos uploaded by health professionals were found to be relatively reliable, particularly in terms of content comprehensiveness and scientific rigor. The public needs to critically judge the credibility of medical short videos before applying relevant health knowledge to self-management.