{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T17:55:47Z","timestamp":1781718947023,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781654400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>There is a concerning trend of misinformation of healthcare related content on social media. Recent studies have examined themes and narratives about Crohn\u2019s disease but have not quantitatively assessed the accuracy and quality of content on Instagram Reels. Our aim was to assess the quality and accuracy of Instagram Reels about Crohn\u2019s disease and examine differences in content by type of creator, from medical professionals to lay individuals.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Seventy-eight top-viewed English-language Instagram Reels tagged with \u201c#crohns\u201d were evaluated. Videos were categorized by creator and content type. Two reviewers evaluated each video for accuracy and quality using an adapted harm\/benefit score and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, respectively.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Seventeen percent of videos were created by medical professionals and 83% by non-medical users. Educational content was significantly more common among medical professionals than other content creators (62% vs 23%;\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.005). No significant correlation was found between engagement metrics and either JAMA or harm\/benefit scores. Medical professionals had significantly higher JAMA scores than non-medical users (2.5 vs 2,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&lt;\u20090.001), but there was no significant difference in harm\/benefit scores between groups (0 vs 0,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.9601). Videos offering medical advice had the lowest median harm\/benefit score (\u22121), with frequent misinformation noted. Forty-two percent of harmful videos were created by medical professionals.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The average Instagram Reel about Crohn\u2019s disease was of moderate quality and neutral impact. Accuracy or quality was unrelated to video popularity. While videos by medical professionals had higher JAMA scores, this did not correspond to greater accuracy. Medical advice videos by medical professionals were not more accurate than those by non-medical creators, and multiple harmful videos were created by medical professionals, underscoring the need for critical evaluation of Crohn\u2019s disease-related social media content.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0350430","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T17:22:42Z","timestamp":1781716962000},"page":"e0350430","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Scrolling for science: Assessing the quality and accuracy of Crohn\u2019s disease-related content on Instagram reels"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-6643-2415","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sankirth","family":"Madabhushi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ami","family":"Patel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samantha","family":"Tse-Kang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrew","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dhruval","family":"Amin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abbas","family":"Rupawala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0350430.ref001","article-title":"Inflammatory Bowel Disease.","volume-title":"Harrison\u2019s Principles of Internal Medicine","author":"S Friedman","year":"2022","edition":"21"},{"key":"pone.0350430.ref002","author":"J Vanian","year":"2025"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0350430.ref003","article-title":"Young adults\u2019 use of different social media platforms for health information: insights from web-based conversations","volume":"24","author":"MSC Lim","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Med Internet Res"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0350430.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.2196\/30379","article-title":"Social media and health care (Part II): narrative review of social media use by patients","volume":"24","author":"D Farsi","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Med Internet Res"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0350430.ref005","article-title":"Social media and the transformation of the physician-patient relationship: viewpoint","volume":"23","author":"EME Forgie","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Med Internet Res"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0350430.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1870","DOI":"10.14309\/ajg.0000000000003539","article-title":"Assessing gastrointestinal awareness on TikTok: a content analysis of colorectal cancer, IBS, and IBD narratives","volume":"120","author":"S Duggal","year":"2025","journal-title":"Am J Gastroenterol"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0350430.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"196","DOI":"10.1111\/cod.14004","article-title":"The use of social media platforms to discuss and educate the public on allergic contact dermatitis","volume":"86","author":"M Nguyen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Contact Dermatitis"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0350430.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1273","DOI":"10.1016\/j.puhe.2015.07.025","article-title":"The content of social media\u2019s shared images about Ebola: a retrospective study","volume":"129","author":"EK Seltzer","year":"2015","journal-title":"Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0350430.ref009","article-title":"Patient education on Instagram? 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