Quality and Reliability of Cancer Pain Educational Content on TikTok: A Cross-Sectional Study
J Pain Symptom Manage. 2026 Jun 9:S0885-3924(26)00814-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2026.05.018. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cancer pain remains a major public health concern and a leading cause of suffering in patients with cancer. With the rapid expansion of short video platforms, such as TikTok, an increasing number of users are turning to these platforms for information on cancer pain management. This study evaluated the quality, reliability, and content characteristics of cancer pain-related short videos on TikTok.
METHODS: A total of 241 videos were included in the final analysis. Data on video characteristics, uploader type, engagement metrics, and medical content were extracted. Two independent reviewers assessed video quality using the Global Quality Score (GQS), the modified DISCERN tool (mDISCERN), and the JAMA benchmark criteria.
RESULTS: The included videos received substantial user engagement; however, overall quality was moderate, with median scores of 3.00 for GQS, 3.00 for mDISCERN, and 2.00 for JAMA. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) uploaded the majority of videos (77.18 percent) and provided significantly higher-quality and more reliable content than non-healthcare professionals (p<0.001). HCP videos more frequently covered diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical manifestations, whereas videos from non-healthcare professionals received higher comment engagement despite lower reliability.
CONCLUSIONS: Spearman correlation analysis showed that user engagement metrics were strongly correlated with each other but had negligible associations with video quality. These findings indicate that although TikTok serves as an important platform for disseminating cancer pain information, substantial gaps remain in content accuracy, particularly among non-professional creators. Increased involvement of healthcare professionals and enhanced platform-level oversight may help improve the quality of cancer pain-related educational content shared on short-video platforms.
PMID:42264099 | DOI:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2026.05.018