Circumcision Surgery on YouTubeTM: A Quality Assessment

Objective: With numerous informative videos for patients and surgeons, Youtube™ is the most popular video sharing website worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and reliability of videos related to the “circumcision” procedure on Youtube™. Materials and Methods: The keyword “circumcision” was searched on the Youtube™ search engine, and those in English were included according to the inclusion criteria sorting by relevance. Basic data (such as number of views and upload sources) of these videos were recorded. Videos were assessed by four independent urologists using the global quality scale (GQS) for quality and the validated 5-question Modified DISCERN scoring for reliability. Results: A search for “circumcision” on Youtube™ search engine identified 800 videos, of which 155 videos were included in the study. Most videos were uploaded by individual users/patients (42.6%). The mean GQS score of the videos was low (2.30±0.99) and the mean modified DISCERN score was also low (1.71±1.10). The GQS and modified DISCERN scores of videos uploaded by physicians/professional organizations/universities were significantly higher than those of other uploaders (p<0.01). There was no correlation between GQS and modified DISCERN scores and duration, number of views, and number of likes of the videos (p>0.05). Conclusion: Most of the videos related to circumcision surgery on Youtube™ platform were uploaded by patients, and the upload rate of healthcare professionals was significantly low. The uploaded videos are of poor quality, and healthcare professionals should produce better quality, reliable, and up-to-date content.