Abstract
BACKGROUND: This study evaluates the content, quality, and reliability of TikTok and Bilibili videos on neonatal jaundice, and examines how accurately they inform parents and healthcare professionals. METHODS: On November 1, 2025, we searched TikTok and Bilibili for the top 100 videos using the terms “neonatal jaundice/新生儿黄疸,” yielding 200 videos in total (100 per platform). Two independent reviewers evaluated each video with the Global Quality Scale (GQS) and modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), independently rating scope, reliability, and overall quality. Disagreements were resolved by discussion with a third arbitrator. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in GQS or mDISCERN between TikTok and Bilibili videos (both p > 0.05). Median scores indicated high quality and high reliability on both platforms (GQS median = 5; mDISCERN median = 5). Videos uploaded by pediatricians were significantly more reliable and of higher quality than those uploaded by family/patients (p < 0.001), and videos focused on disease knowledge or disease knowledge/treatment care outperformed experience sharing and other content types (p < 0.01). Platform engagement was higher on TikTok (likes/comments/saves/shares, all p < 0.05), but engagement did not correlate with quality (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: For neonatal jaundice videos, overall information quality was high on both TikTok and Bilibili, with no platform-level difference in GQS or mDISCERN. Higher quality and reliability were consistently associated with content created by pediatricians and with disease knowledge/treatment care topics, whereas popularity metrics did not predict quality. Platforms should strengthen medical content review and verification, and creators—especially healthcare professionals—should prioritize evidence-based, structured education to better serve parents and caregivers. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12887-026-06771-0.