Observational studyInternational ophthalmology2018
YouTube videos in the English language as a patient education resource for cataract surgery.
Observational study in International ophthalmology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Tools/instruments for assessing YouTube videos on surgical procedures for patient/consumer health education: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- An evaluation of the efficacy of a supplemental computer-based tutorial to enhance the informed consent process for cataract surgery: an exploratory randomized clinical study.BMC ophthalmology · 2022Trial
- Educational quality of ocular and orbital anatomy videos on YouTube: a student- and patient-centered evaluation.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Article
- Educational performance of TikTok short videos for age related macular degeneration and its link to user engagement.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Dacryocystorhinostomy videos on YouTube as a source of patient education.International ophthalmology · 2024Article
- An Emerging Ophthalmology Challenge: A Narrative Review of TikTok Trends Impacting Eye Health Among Children and Adolescents.Ophthalmology and therapy · 2024Review
- User Friendliness and Perioperative Guidance Benefits of a Cataract Surgery Education App: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Show don't tell: assessing the impact of co-developed patient information videos in paediatric uveitis.Eye (London, England) · 2024Article
- Article
- Evaluating the quality, utility, and reliability of the information in uveitis videos shared on YouTube.International ophthalmology · 2023Article
- Is YouTube a high-quality source of information on cancer rehabilitation?Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2022Article
- Assessment of freely available online videos of cardiac electrophysiological procedures from a shared decision-making perspective.Cardiovascular digital health journal · 2022Article
- A Digital Cancer Ecosystem to Deliver Health and Psychosocial Education as Preventive Intervention.Cancers · 2022Article
- Evaluating the Quality and Reliability of Gender-affirming Surgery Videos on YouTube and TikTok.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2022Article
- Adoption and Use of Social Media Platforms by Ophthalmology Programs during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of academic ophthalmology (2017) · 2022Article
- Factors Affecting Engagement in Web-Based Health Care Patient Information: Narrative Review of the Literature.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Review
- Article
- Impact of Preoperative Video Education for Cataract Surgery on Patient Learning Outcomes.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2020Article
- YouTube Videos as a Source of Information on Colorectal Cancer: What Do Our Patients Learn?Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo assess the quality of the content of YouTube videos for cataract surgery patient education.
settingHotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
designObservational study.
methods"Cataract surgery," "cataract surgery for patients," and "cataract surgery patient education" were used as search terms. The first two pages of search results were reviewed. Descriptive statistics such as video length and view count were obtained. Two cataract surgeons devised 14 criteria important for educating patients about the procedure. Videos were analyzed based on the presence or absence of these criteria. Videos were also assessed for whether they had a primary commercial intent.
resultsSeventy-two videos were analyzed after excluding 48 videos that were duplicate, irrelevant, or not in English. The majority of videos came from a medical professional (71%) and many depicted a real cataract surgery procedure (43%). Twenty-one percent of the videos had a primary commercial intent to promote a practice or product. Out of a total possible 14 points, the mean number of usefulness criteria satisfied was only 2.28 ± 1.80. There was no significant difference in view count between the most useful videos and other videos (p = 0.94). Videos from medical organizations such as the National Health Service were more useful (p < 0.0001).
conclusionsCataract surgery videos are popular on YouTube, but most are not adequately educational. Patients may be receiving biased information from videos created with primary commercial intent. Physicians should be aware of the type of information patients may be accessing on YouTube.
Indexed as
Identifiers
28849436What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.