TikTok, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili as sources of medical information on lung cancer: a multi-platform content evaluation

Background: Lung cancer remains a major public health burden, and short-video platforms have become an important source of health information. This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics and information quality of lung cancer-related videos on TikTok, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using lung cancer-related videos collected on December 25, 2025. "Lung cancer" was used as the search keyword on TikTok, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili. After duplicates and irrelevant content were removed, 563 videos were analyzed. Video characteristics, uploader types, and content categories were recorded. Information quality and reliability were evaluated using the Global Quality Scale (GQS) and the Decision-making Information Support Criteria for Evaluating the Reliability of Non-randomized Studies (DISCERN) instrument by two independent reviewers. Multivariate ordinal logistic regression was used to examine the associations among uploader type, interaction metrics, video content, and video presentation format with video quality (GQS) and information reliability (DISCERN) separately. Results: Bilibili videos exhibited significantly higher user engagement metrics than TikTok and Xiaohongshu videos (all P