POSTERS: Epilepsy

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 204 KB
• Volume: 70
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0364-5134
• DOI: 10.1002/ana.22560

✦ Synopsis

Objective: Self-esteem and peer relationship difficulties are seen in children and adolescents with Tourette Syndrome (TS). The portrayal of TS on YouTube could reflect and influence public perception of TS. Our goal was to assess public perception and stigma surrounding TS through viewers' response to videos on YouTube.

Methods: The top 20 videos on YouTube for search terms ''Tourette's'', ''Tourette's Syndrome, ''Tourette Syndrome'' and ''tics'' were selected. Two investigators independently assessed the portrayal of TS in selected videos as positive, negative or neutral. The total number of views and viewer demographics were noted. Top 10 comments for each video were graded as ''sympathetic'', ''neutral'' or ''derogatory'' towards TS. The relationship between viewer perception, nature of comments and popularity were then evaluated.

Results: 14 970 videos were obtained and 41 were retained. These had an average of 590 113 views (1 369-13 747 069) and 1761 comments (0 -35 241). 22% of the videos portrayed TS negatively, 20 % were neutral and 59 % positive. Negative portrayals were significantly associated with more views (Spearman's correlation rho ¼ À0.46, p¼0.003) and more comments (Spearman's correlation rho ¼ À0.47, p¼0.002). A younger audience (< 25 years) did not favour any videos in terms of portrayal of TS (v2 test for trend, p¼0.13). 27% of videos depicted coprolalia.

Conclusion: While some excellent examples of TS are available on YouTube, the presence and popularity of videos negatively portraying TS may reflect and reinforce existing stigma in society.

E-2. Clinical characteristics of the pediatric epilepsy with no interictal epileptiform discharges in initial EEG