YouTube videos can inaccurately depict Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders

EurekAlert, Public release date: 21-Sep-2011

Looking online for medical information? Viewers beware, doctors caution. After reviewing the most frequently watched YouTube videos about movement disorders, a group of neurologists found that the people in the videos often do not have a movement disorder. As described in a Letter to the Editor in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, such medical misinformation may confuse patients suffering from devastating neurological disorders and seeking health information and advice online.

Many people use the Internet as a primary resource for medical information, and YouTube, the third most visited website on the Internet, is a popular platform for patients to share personal medical stories and experiences on video.

Dozens of YouTube videos show people who believe they have movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease demonstrating and talking about their symptoms. In January 2011, neurologists at University College London began a study when patients alerted them that online videos often proposed a diagnosis and suggested therapies.