(0202) A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Oropharyngeal Gardasil Content on TikTok

Introduction: Gardasil-9 is the only HPV vaccine distributed in the US since late 2016 and is proven to reduce the risk of HPV-associated cancers, including cervical and oropharyngeal cancer. TikTok, a large social media platform, has received criticism for lack of regulation regarding misinformation, particularly concerning vaccines. This study aims to evaluate Gardasil and HPV-vaccine content on TikTok using user metrics.

Methods: TikTok’s search page was queried for #gardasil and the top 60 results were included. The number of likes, comments, and views was recorded. Follower counts and the type of account was also recorded. Each video was reviewed by two researchers independently and mention of oropharyngeal cancer, if present, was noted. Chi-square analysis was performed to compare categorical variables and ANOVA was performed for continuous variables.

Results: Patients comprised the majority of accounts (n = 25, 41.7%), followed by physicians (n = 14, 23.3%), then lawyers/law firms (n = 11, 18.3%). The average number of likes on each post was 7,833 (SD = 39,822), while the average number of comments was 232 (SD = 542). The mean amount of times that a video was viewed was 126,246 (SD = 423,155). Only 7 (11.7%) videos mentioned oropharyngeal cancer explicitly. Chi-square analysis revealed no significant difference between account type and mention of oropharyngeal cancer (p = 0.354). ANOVA analysis revealed that there was a significant difference between account types in the mean amount of comments and followers (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference between account types for views (p = 0.047) but no difference for likes (p = 0.078).

Conclusions: TikTok has become a place for patients to share their stories and physicians to share knowledge. TikTok physicians may be under-mentioning the oropharyngeal manifestations of HPV, and online discussion on Gardasil is heavily focused on cervical cancer and vaccine side effects. TikTok presents an audience of patients who may be dissuaded from receiving Gardasil by misinformation or may not understand the role of HPV in oropharyngeal cancer, nor the preventative role Gardasil plays.