Reliability and quality of educational content on sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome: A cross-sectional content analysis on TikTok and Bilibili

Sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS), a prevalent sleep-disordered breathing disease, burdens global health. In the digital era, short-video platforms such as TikTok and Bilibili have become a major source of health information for the public, but their quality is scarcely studied, raising accuracy and reliability concerns. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the reliability and quality of SAHS educational videos on TikTok and Bilibili using validated tools, such as modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), Global Quality Score (GQS), and Journal of the American Medical Association benchmark criteria (JAMA), and to analyze the associations between content quality, uploader types, and user engagement metrics. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted by retrieving the top 150 videos from each platform using “Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome” as the keyword. After excluding duplicates and irrelevant videos, 274 videos (150 from TikTok, 124 from Bilibili) were analyzed using the GQS, the mDISCERN, and the JAMA. Video characteristics, uploader identity, content coverage, and user engagement metrics were evaluated and compared across platforms and uploader types. TikTok videos were significantly shorter but received higher user engagement (likes, comments, shares, and collections) compared with Bilibili videos. Healthcare professionals were the primary uploaders on TikTok (57%), whereas individual users dominated on Bilibili (54%). Video quality scores (GQS, mDISCERN, JAMA) were significantly higher on TikTok than on Bilibili ( P  < .001). Videos uploaded by healthcare professionals scored the highest in quality and reliability. Strong positive correlations were found among the engagement metrics, but only weak correlations existed between engagement and quality scores. TikTok had higher engagement and better quality than Bilibili, but the overall video quality of the SAHS content on both platforms still needs improvement. Healthcare professional-uploaded videos are more reliable. These findings highlight the need for better regulation and monitoring of health content on short-video platforms.