Duke medical researchers say deep mistrust of IUDs on TikTok is undermining birth control awareness

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, legal experts worry that restricting birth control will be next. In this landscape, IUDs (intrauterine devices), which are effective for several years, are a good solution. Planned Parenthood recommends them as one of the best forms of birth control. However, according to a new study by Duke University School of Medicine researchers, influencers on TikTok disagree.

Jenny Wu, an OB-GYN resident and a coauthor of the study who regularly prescribes IUDs for patients, said they found a large disconnect between what doctors recommend and what people were saying on TikTok. The Duke researchers used a web-scraping app to analyze the top 100 most viewed TikToks tagged #IUDs. They found that, of the videos analyzed, 37.8% had a negative tone, 19.4% had a positive tone, 24.4% contained inaccurate scientific claims, and 27.6% had a distrust of healthcare professionals. Of the videos relating patient experiences, nearly all had a negative tone with 96.8% highlighting pain and other side effects from IUD insertion and removal. These negative videos attracted the most views.

Megan Happ, another of the study’s coauthors who coded the videos, said: “I think that this study on a larger scale quantifies the number of people that have feelings of distrust, or that did not get the information that they needed to feel like they made an informed choice for their health and their body. . . . With respect to IUDs in general, and contraceptive education in reproductive health, we are not . . . adequately educating and preparing [patients] for the experience.”

Wu added that an OB-GYN appointment should not be a traumatic experience, and that as a result of their findings, she now preemptively offers patients pain management and explains that an IUD can be painful for some people.

Fast Company reached out to TikTok for comment but did not hear back.