Less than one-half of YouTube videos on allergic rhinitis provide useful information, according to a study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Celine Lund-Nielsen Remvig and colleagues examined the popularity and usefulness of YouTube videos on allergic rhinitis. Of 86 videos included in the analysis, 43% were classified as useful, 36% as misleading, and 21% as neither useful nor misleading. Only 17.5% of videos were uploaded by a healthcare professional, whereas 39.5% were uploaded from a TV show or YouTube channel. User interaction was greater for videos uploaded by TV shows and YouTube channels, which accounted for 66.9% of the total likes, 66.8% of the total dislikes, and 54.0% of the total comments. While this source alone accounted for 23.4% of the total views, it accounted for 48% of the total misleading videos. Highlighting the issue, Remvig said in a statement, “According to research, 70% of patients with a chronic disease are influenced by information they get from online sources, and one-quarter of Internet users have watched an online video about a health or medical problem.”
