ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2017
Social Media-Promoted Weight Loss Among an Occupational Population: Cohort Study Using a WeChat Mobile Phone App-Based Campaign.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 128 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Identifying Social Media-Based Interactions That Help Adults to Adhere to Weight Loss Goals: A Systematic Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Pooled it
- A Model of Social Media Effects in Public Health Communication Campaigns: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Social Media-Based Interventions for Health Behavior Change in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Pooled it
- Using Social Media to Understand Web-Based Social Factors Concerning Obesity: Systematic Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy of Interventions That Incorporate Mobile Apps in Facilitating Weight Loss and Health Behavior Change in the Asian Population: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- Use of Technology-Based Interventions in the Treatment of Patients with Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- Assessment of the Efficacy, Safety, and Effectiveness of Weight Control and Obesity Management Mobile Health Interventions: Systematic Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2019Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Exposure to Parental Secondhand Smoke at Home among Children in China: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Effectiveness of telehealth pelvic-abdominal mechanics training rehabilitation program for pelvic floor rehabilitation in puerperal women: a randomized controlled study.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine · 2025Trial
- Efficacy of a WeChat-Based, Multidisciplinary, Full-Course Nutritional Management Program on the Nutritional Status of Patients With Ovarian Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Trial
- Patient Engagement in a Mobile App-Based Rehabilitation Program for Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty: Secondary Data Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Trial
- Smartphone-Based Cancer and Obesity Prevention Education Program for Chinese Women (SCOPE): A Pilot RCT.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Home-based transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation for high-normal blood pressure: A randomized controlled trial.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2022Trial
- Web-Based TangPlan and WeChat Combination to Support Self-management for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Trial
- WeChat as a Platform for Baduanjin Intervention in Patients With Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in China: Retrospective Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Effectiveness of a WeChat Combined Continuous Flash Glucose Monitoring System on Glycemic Control in Juvenile Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Management: Randomized Controlled Trial.Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy · 2021Trial
- Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Trial
- A Mobile-Based Intervention for Dietary Behavior and Physical Activity Change in Individuals at High Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Trial
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBeing overweight and obese are major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high throughout the world and these issues are very serious in the Shunyi District in China. As mobile technologies have rapidly developed, mobile apps such as WeChat are well accepted and have the potential to improve health behaviors.
objectiveThis study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile app (WeChat) as an intervention on weight loss behavior.
methodsThis study was conducted among an occupational population from August 2015 to February 2016 in the Shunyi District of Beijing. Before the intervention, the Shunyi District Government released an official document for weight loss to all 134 government agencies and enterprises in Shunyi District. Participants willing to use our official WeChat account were enrolled in a WeChat group and received 6 months of interventions for weight loss; those who were not willing to use the account were in a control group given routine publicity on weight loss.
resultsIn total, 15,310 occupational participants including 3467 participants (22.65%) in the control group and 11,843 participants (77.35%) in the WeChat group were enrolled. Participants in the WeChat group lost more weight (mean 2.09, SD 3.43 kg) than people in the control group (mean 1.78, SD 2.96 kg), and the difference in mean weight loss between the two groups for males was significant based on the stratification of age and educational level. To control for confounding factors and to explore the effects of WeChat on weight loss, the propensity score method with a multinominal logistic regression was utilized. For males, this showed that the WeChat group (with both active and inactive subgroups) had a higher probability of maintaining weight, weight loss from 1 to 2 kg, or weight loss more than 2 kg than the control group. However, the control group had higher probability of weight loss from 0 to 1 kg. Being active in WeChat was likely to be associated with weight loss. The more active participants were in the weight loss program via WeChat, the more weight they lost.
conclusionsThe weight loss intervention campaign based on an official WeChat account focused on an occupation-based population in Shunyi District was effective for males. The more active male participants were in using WeChat, the more weight they lost. There might be no effect or there may even be a negative effect on weight loss for females. Future research should focus on how to improve adherence to the WeChat weight loss interventions, to improve and refine the WeChat content such as developing a variety of materials to attract interest, and to protect personal privacy, especially for females.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.