Background: YouTube is one of the most used social media platforms from a desktop computer. YouTube provides a virtual platform that allows users to upload and view video content. Due to this functionality, YouTube is a valuable method for sharing and disseminating health information.

Patients with chronic conditions (including arthritis) are increasingly relying on online health information to help manage their symptoms, with 75% of patients living with chronic conditions reporting their healthcare decisions are influenced by information found online.

To date there have been no studies that have explored the information available for people searching for advice and support about arthritis on YouTube.

Methods: Patient and public involvement (PPI) representatives contributed to defining terms likely to be used by members of the public with arthritis searching for self-management strategies on YouTube. These included “joint pain”, “knee pain”, “hip pain”, “hand pain” AND “helping” or “improving”. From each of these search terms the top 10 videos sorted by view counts were chosen. Videos were included if the content was related to arthritis, in English and published in 2017. Videos were excluded if they were inappropriate or offensive, not related to humans or duplicates. The top 50 videos sorted by view count were included for analysis. This data set was systematically coded by the team lead (EH) and crosschecked by an additional team member (AC). Coded data were analysed using SPSS.

Results: Eighty videos were retrieved, 7 videos were irrelevant, 9 were duplicates and 11 were non-English language videos. Sixty-three videos were included for analysis. From the top fifty videos (sorted by view count), “Herbal Medicine” (n=14; 28%) was the most common category, followed by “Exercise and Stretching” (n=12; 24%). The most watched video relating to the self-management of arthritis was related to “Herbal Medicine” with a view count close to two million (n=1,930,905) within the four months since it had been posted online. Twenty five (69%) of the arthritis management related videos originated from the USA, with the UK producing only one video. Fifteen (30%) of the videos had been posted by self-reported health professionals. Nineteen (38%) of the videos were commercial. None of the videos produced links to research to back up their claims.

Conclusion: Sharing of health information on YouTube is unregulated. The most accessed videos include alternative approaches to self-management and are not posted by registered health care professionals (HCPs). Whilst a wide range of arthritis-related videos were retrieved, few were created by HCPs or reputable health care organisations. YouTube is a powerful tool for people with arthritis to access and use health information. Current findings demonstrate scope for HCPs and established healthcare organisations to further utilise YouTube for the dissemination of quality-controlled, evidence-based information.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared

DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-eular.7751