Current status of public education on endocrine and metabolic diseases carried out by academic journals’ WeChat official accounts: a retrospective study

Abstract Background To investigate the current status of public education on endocrine and metabolic diseases through WeChat official accounts (WOAs) of academic medical journals in China and to identify the factors that influence user engagement. Methods A retrospective study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of WOAs from both general medical journals (GMJs) and endocrinology medical journals (EMJs) listed in the Chinese Science Citation Database. After characterising the main features of the articles, we used generalized linear models to identify factors associated with the number of readings and likes of the articles. . Results The study identified 16 WOAs of medical journals, consisting of 12 GMJs and 4 EMJs. From 2021 to 2023, these WOAs published a total of 1,033 articles on endocrine and metabolic diseases. The most popular topics were diabetes (680/1033, 65.8%), osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease (168/1033, 16.2%), and thyroid disease (62/1033, 6.0%). Multivariable regression analysis revealed that in GMJs, longer articles and those categorized as guideline/interpretation and expert consensus positively predicted both reading and liking counts. In EMJs, longer articles and guideline/interpretation and expert consensus categories were associated with increased reading counts, while guideline/interpretation and expert consensus articles also positively predicted liking counts. Conclusion Although articles on endocrine and metabolic diseases achieve relatively high engagement on WOAs of academic medical journals in China, the overall reads and like counts remain low. Further optimization of promotion strategies, especially for incorporating multimedia content, is needed to significantly enhance user engagement.