YouTube® as a source of information for Spanish-speaking patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction: Social media (SoMe) has reshaped access to health information, which may benefit patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), although an evaluation of the characteristics of contents for Spanish-speaking patients is lacking. We aimed to assess patient engagement, reliability, comprehensiveness, and quality of data uploaded to YouTube® for Spanish-speaking patients. Methods: We evaluated the videos uploaded to YouTube® in Spanish about RA. Information about video length, engagement (i.e., views, likes, popularity index), time online, and the source was retrieved; we appraised reliability (DISCERN), comprehensiveness (content score), and quality (Global Quality Score) using standardized scores. Results: We included 200 videos in the study and classified 67% of the videos as useful. These videos had a higher number of views (19,491 [10,132–61,162] vs. 11,208 [8183–20,538]), a longer time online (1156 [719–2254] vs. 832 [487–1708] days), and a shorter duration (6.3 [3.4–15.8] vs. 11.8 [7.4–20.3] min). Engagement parameters were similar between useful and misleading videos. Useful videos had higher reliability, comprehensiveness, and quality scores. Useful videos were mainly uploaded by independent users and government/news agencies; academic organizations offered only 15% of useful videos. Conclusions: Most of the information in YouTube® for Spanish-speaking patients with RA is useful; however, patient engagement is similar between useful and misleading content. More substantial involvement of academia in developing high-quality educational multimedia is warranted.