CATARACT SURGERY CONTENT FROM LEADING EUROPEAN AND NORTH AMERICAN OPHTHALMOLOGY ORGANIZATIONS: A QUALITATIVE AUDIOVISUAL ANALYSIS

Cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgical procedure, with an estimated 7 million yearly cases in Europe (EUR), 4 million in North America (NAM), and 20 million worldwide. With billions of users, YouTube (YT) is known to play a key role in public health education. This study assesses the quality and reliability of YT videos about cataract surgery using its own algorithm compared to videos from major ophthalmology organizations in EUR and NAM.

This study was carried out using globally accessible online audiovisual content.

We searched “cataract surgery” on YT and selected 10 videos with the most views. Then, “cataract surgery” was searched from YT profiles of the European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS), the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE), the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the NIH’s National Eye Institute (NEI), and the Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COE). Criteria required videos to be less than 15 minutes and have “cataract surgery” in the description. Videos were excluded if not in English, older than 15 years, age-restricted, or sponsored by pharmaceutical entities. Videos were grouped by location (EUR or NAM) and graded by 3 reviewers using the validated methods of PEMAT Understandability and Actionability (PU and PA), JAMA Benchmark Criteria for quality assessment, and 5-point modified DISCERN reliability instrument. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests were done.

A total of 71 videos were identified, with 23 from EUR, 38 from NAM, and 10 from YT. PU mean was 85.5% (SD 4.7) for YT compared to 42.6% (SD 10.3) and 64.8% (SD 16.9) for EUR and NAM, respectively. PA mean was 66.7% (SD 38.5) for YT compared to 14.1% (SD 21.8) and 18.4% (SD 31.7) for EUR and NAM, respectively. The mean DISCERN score was 4.2 (SD 0.8) for YT compared to 3.2 (SD 0.7) and 2.8 (SD 0.9) for EUR and NAM, respectively. A statistically significant higher median understandability (p<0.001), actionability (p=0.014), and DISCERN score (p<0.001) can be seen in YT. The JAMA average was 2.7 (SD 0.7) for YT compared to 2.7 (SD 0.5), and 2.2 (SD 0.5) for EUR and NAM respectively.

YT produced videos of higher reliability, understandability, and actionability than videos from leading ophthalmology organizations. As patients continue to rely on social media and online resources for information, trusted ophthalmology sources should develop more reliable material for improved patient education.