VOL. 108 NO. 3 I SEPTEMBER 2021 139 WWW.MDEDGE.COM/DERMATOLOGY To the Editor: Atopic dermatitis (eczema) affects approximately 20% of children worldwide.1 In atopic dermatitis management, patient education is crucial for… Click to show full abstract
VOL. 108 NO. 3 I SEPTEMBER 2021 139 WWW.MDEDGE.COM/DERMATOLOGY To the Editor: Atopic dermatitis (eczema) affects approximately 20% of children worldwide.1 In atopic dermatitis management, patient education is crucial for optimal outcomes.2 The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted patient-physician interactions. To ensure safety of patients and physicians, visits may have been canceled, postponed, or conducted virtually, leaving less time for discussion and questions.3 As a consequence, patients may seek information about atopic dermatitis from alternative sources, including YouTube videos. We performed a cross-sectional study to analyze YouTube videos about topical treatments for atopic dermatitis. During the week of July 16, 2020, we performed 4 private browser YouTube searches with default filters using the following terms: eczema topicals, eczema topical treatments, atopic dermatitis topicals, and atopic dermatitis topical treatments. For video selection, we defined topical treatments as topical corticosteroids, topical calcineurin inhibitors, crisaborole, emollients, wet wraps, and any prospective treatment topically administered. For each of the 4 searches, 2 researchers (A.M. and A.T.) independently examined the top 75 videos, yielding a total of 300 videos. Of them, 98 videos were duplicates, 19 videos were not about atopic dermatitis, and 91 videos were not about topical treatments, leaving a total of 92 videos for analysis (Figure 1). For the 92 included videos, the length; upload year; number of views, likes, dislikes, and comments; interaction ratio (IR)(the sum of likes, dislikes, and comments divided by the number of views); and video content were determined. The videos were placed into mutually exclusive categories as follows: (1) patient experience, defined as a video about Atopic Dermatitis Topical Therapies: Study of YouTube Videos as a Source of Patient Information
               
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