Evaluation of trends in breast cancer–related content on TikTok

• Published in: Journal of clinical oncology Vol. 40; no. 16_suppl; p. 11046
• Main Authors: Siva, Nanda, Koirala, Monika, Raiker, Rahul, Waris, Shanawar, Pakhchanian, Haig, Puckett, Yana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-06-2022
• ISSN: 0732-183X; 1527-7755
• DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2022.40.16_suppl.11046

11046
Background: Social media plays an important role in disseminating information to patients. It is important to investigate the healthcare content on popular platforms to understand the material consumed by patients that may influence their medical decision making. TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active subscribers and has become common ground to communicate healthcare information, including that of breast cancer. This study aims to provide an analysis of breast-cancer related information on TikTok. Methods: The most popular TikTok hashtag related to breast cancer was identified, and the top videos were gathered on January 23, 2022. Data was collected to reach a target of 100 videos. Exclusion criteria were non-English videos, repeated videos, or upload of movie/tv clip without educational info. The video source was characterized based on healthcare role, gender, and race. Healthcare provider was defined as an individual with a professional medical degree (MD, PA, RN, other). The videos were categorized into patient experience, educational, advertisement, and other. Specific content components, including chemotherapy, surgical intervention, mammogram, and self-breast exam, were tracked. Results: The hashtag “#breastcancer” was identified as the most popular, with 773.8 million views. The videos had a combined 258,886,300 views, 31,573,400 likes, 413,604 shares, and 567,520 comments. Of the 100 videos analyzed, 91 were uploaded by a layperson, 2 by a healthcare professional, and 7 by a company. The healthcare professionals consisted of one OB/GYN and one general surgeon. The racial designations of the main subjects in the videos were 87.2% White, 3.2% Black, 2.1% Hispanic, 4.3% Asian, and 3.2% undetermined. Content categorization revealed 81% patient experience, 22% educational, 6% advertisement, and 8% other. The major topics presented in the videos related to surgical treatment (39%), chemotherapy (37%), and radiation treatment (2%). Conclusions: An overwhelming majority of breast cancer related information on TikTok was not presented by qualified healthcare professionals and exhibited a lack of cultural diversity and inclusivity.[Table: see text]