JBRA Assisted Reproduction 2025;29(Suppl.2 SBRA 2025):113
Poster Presentation
29^th Annual Congress of the SBRA. São Paulo/SP - Brazil, 2025
doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20263747

P-101. Fertility influencers in Brazil: an analysis of the quality of the information shared using the DISCERN tool.

Renata De Lima Bossi¹, Marcos Aurelio Coelho Sampaio¹, Márcia Mendonça Carneiro¹

¹ Origen - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brasil

Objective: We sought to examine individual social media accounts related to fertility/infertility on Instagram the most popular social media among reproductive age individuals and assess the quality of the information shared by fertility influencers in Brazil using the DISCERN tool.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of public, fertility related, social media accounts on Instagram (IG) in February 2025. The following hashtags were used: #infertility, #tryingtoconceive (TTC), #assistedreproduction, #humanreproduction as they were the most frequent according to our previous study. Influencers were defined as those having at least 10.000 followers and minimum of 10 posts/month. Post categorized as motivational, commercial or educational. Authorship was divided as health care professional (medical doctor or clinic) and lay people (LP). The DISCERN instrument (http://www.discern.org.uk/discern_instrument.php) comprises 16 questions divided into 3 sections: reliability (1-8); quality of information on treatment choices (9-15) and overall rating (16). Each question was scored from 1 to 5 (1=no agreement; 5=highest agreement). For this study questions 1 to 8 were used to assess reliability. SECTION 1: Is the publication reliable? 1. Are the aims clear? 2. Does it achieve its aims? 3. Is it relevant? 4. Is it clear what sources of information were used to compile the publication (other than the author or producer)? 5. Is it clear when the information used or reported in the publication was produced? 6. Is it balanced and unbiased? 7. Does it provide details of additional sources of support and information? 8. Does it refer to areas of uncertainty? Eventual divergencies were settled among authors. This study is exempt from ethical approval because it did not include any interaction or intervention with human subjects according to Ministério da Saúde (resolução nº 510 de 07 de abril de 2016 do Conselho de Ética em Pesquisa –COEP).
Results: #infertility: 12 influencers identified but 7 who did not have enough posts were excluded. All authors were health care professionals, 4 verified one not verified; 25 themes identified: 12 educational 13 motivational #tryingtoconceive: 9 influencers identified but 4 did not have enough posts were excluded; only one was verified; 6 were lay people 3 HCP. 25 themes identified: 2 educational, 16 motivational, 7 commercial #assisted reproduction: 11 influencers identified; 4 excluded for not having the number of posts defined; all were HCP (MD or clinic); none was verified, 35 themes identified: 14 educational, 12 motivational, 9 commercial #humanreproduction: 52 identified but 19 did not have enough posts. All of the authors were HCP but only 7 were verified. 165 themes identified: 79 educational; 18 commercial; 68 motivational. Table 1 shows mean followers for each hashtag and mean discern questions scores. Table: Mean followers and mean discern scores for questions 1 to 8 for each hashtag
Conclusion: Although the majority of fertility influencers in Brazil were healthcare professionals, the information they shared on Instagram in Brazil lacked quality and reliability. Discern analysis showed it is unbalanced and biased and fails to mention uncertainties and references. As people increasingly turn to social media to obtain information, it is crucial to understand the fertility-related social media landscape and help ensure accurate reliable information is available.

Table 1. Mean followers and mean discern scores for questions 1 to 8 for each hashtag