The quality and reliability of short videos about diabetic foot on TikTok and Bilibili: a cross-sectional study
- 1Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University
- 2Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University
- 3Clinical Nursing Teaching and Research Section, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University
Abstract
Diabetic foot represents one of the most serious complications of diabetes mellitus. Short videos on diabetic foot are increasingly disseminated through TikTok and Bilibili apps, which have emerged as dominant sources of health-related content. However, the credibility and quality of information in these short videos have not been systematically evaluated. Our study aims to assess the quality and reliability of Chinese short videos on diabetic foot shared on TikTok and Bilibili. A cross-sectional study design was adopted, and a total of 244 short videos related to diabetic foot were collected from two platforms: TikTok and Bilibili. On December 15, 2025, information quality and reliability assessment was conducted using three validated evaluation tools: GQS for quality assessment, and the mDISCERN and JAMA benchmarks for reliability assessment. Meanwhile, user interaction indicators and video characteristics were extracted. Nonparametric tests were applied to compare differences across platforms and uploader types, and Spearman correlation was used to examine relationships among video characteristics, engagement metrics, and quality scores. Compared to Bilibili, TikTok demonstrated significantly higher engagement metrics (all P < 0.001). The quality of short videos was suboptimal on both platforms, with median GQS of 2.00 (1.00,3.00), mDISCERN of 2.00 (1.00,2.00), and JAMA score of 2.00 (2.00,2.00). TikTok videos achieved significantly higher GQS and JAMA scores than Bilibili (both P < 0.001). By uploader type, non-specialists achieved significantly higher GQS scores than specialists (median 3.00 vs. 2.00, P < 0.001). Content distribution was imbalanced: clinical manifestations (48.36%) and treatment (44.26%) were prevalent, whereas epidemiology (7.79%) and diagnosis (14.34%) were underrepresented; 51.23% of videos covered a single theme and 48.77% addressed multiple themes. Video duration was positively correlated with GQS (r = 0.59, P < 0.001) and mDISCERN (r = 0.26, P < 0.001) but not with JAMA, while engagement metrics showed only weak or non-significant correlations with all quality scores. Our study shows that the quality of short videos on diabetic foot is poor on TikTok and Bilibili, with significant content imbalances. Videos uploaded by professionals demonstrated better reliability than those from individual users. Engagement metrics were not reliable indicators of information quality. Thus, medical information short videos on these platforms must be carefully evaluated for scientific soundness, and platforms should strengthen content regulation to ensure accurate diabetic foot education.
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BibTeX
@article{yan2026quality,
title = {{The quality and reliability of short videos about diabetic foot on TikTok and Bilibili: a cross-sectional study}},
author = {Baichuan Yan and Bowen Pan and Yu Gu and Haiyan Shen and Lu Deng},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-62665-2},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-62665-2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The quality and reliability of short videos about diabetic foot on TikTok and Bilibili: a cross-sectional study
AU - Baichuan Yan
AU - Bowen Pan
AU - Yu Gu
AU - Haiyan Shen
AU - Lu Deng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-62665-2
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-62665-2
AB - Diabetic foot represents one of the most serious complications of diabetes mellitus. Short videos on diabetic foot are increasingly disseminated through TikTok and Bilibili apps, which have emerged as dominant sources of health-related content. However, the credibility and quality of information in these short videos have not been systematically evaluated. Our study aims to assess the quality and reliability of Chinese short videos on diabetic foot shared on TikTok and Bilibili. A cross-sectional study design was adopted, and a total of 244 short videos related to diabetic foot were collected from two platforms: TikTok and Bilibili. On December 15, 2025, information quality and reliability assessment was conducted using three validated evaluation tools: GQS for quality assessment, and the mDISCERN and JAMA benchmarks for reliability assessment. Meanwhile, user interaction indicators and video characteristics were extracted. Nonparametric tests were applied to compare differences across platforms and uploader types, and Spearman correlation was used to examine relationships among video characteristics, engagement metrics, and quality scores. Compared to Bilibili, TikTok demonstrated significantly higher engagement metrics (all P < 0.001). The quality of short videos was suboptimal on both platforms, with median GQS of 2.00 (1.00,3.00), mDISCERN of 2.00 (1.00,2.00), and JAMA score of 2.00 (2.00,2.00). TikTok videos achieved significantly higher GQS and JAMA scores than Bilibili (both P < 0.001). By uploader type, non-specialists achieved significantly higher GQS scores than specialists (median 3.00 vs. 2.00, P < 0.001). Content distribution was imbalanced: clinical manifestations (48.36%) and treatment (44.26%) were prevalent, whereas epidemiology (7.79%) and diagnosis (14.34%) were underrepresented; 51.23% of videos covered a single theme and 48.77% addressed multiple themes. Video duration was positively correlated with GQS (r = 0.59, P < 0.001) and mDISCERN (r = 0.26, P < 0.001) but not with JAMA, while engagement metrics showed only weak or non-significant correlations with all quality scores. Our study shows that the quality of short videos on diabetic foot is poor on TikTok and Bilibili, with significant content imbalances. Videos uploaded by professionals demonstrated better reliability than those from individual users. Engagement metrics were not reliable indicators of information quality. Thus, medical information short videos on these platforms must be carefully evaluated for scientific soundness, and platforms should strengthen content regulation to ensure accurate diabetic foot education.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -