Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2020
Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 10 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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Digital Health Interventions on Breastfeeding Rates, Self-Efficacy, and Knowledge: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of Parent-Targeted Digital Health Interventions on Breastfeeding Practices: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Digital Interventions Targeting Parents to Improve Early Childhood Movement, Nutrition, and Sleep Behaviors: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Mobile applications for promoting and supporting breastfeeding: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring characteristics and common features of digital health in pediatric care in developing countries: a systematic review.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of mHealth interventions on maternal, newborn, and child health from conception to 24 months postpartum in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of online intervention mode on breastfeeding results: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Reproductive health · 2023Pooled it
- Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Social Media-Based Interventions for Health Behavior Change in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Pooled it
- Uncovering hidden patterns: use of infant feeding profiles in the first 6 months postpartum to inform the effectiveness of breastfeeding promotion programs.Frontiers in public health · 2026Trial
- Effectiveness of a Mobile Breastfeeding Monitoring Tool Among Mothers in WeChat Groups on Breastfeeding Exclusivity and Self-Efficacy: Intention-to-Treat and Per-Protocol Analyses of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Effectiveness of a Web-Based Medication Education Course on Pregnant Women's Medication Information Literacy and Decision Self-Efficacy: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- The effect of virtual reality on the breastfeeding process: a randomized controlled study.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2024Trial
- The implementation of online and offline hybrid weight management approach for pregnant women based on the Fogg behavior model in Hainan, China: a pilot randomized controlled trial.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Trial
- Improving Parental Health Literacy in Primary Caregivers of 0- to 3-Year-Old Children Through a WeChat Official Account: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Trial
- Analysis of the Application Effect of Multidisciplinary Team Cooperation Model in Chronic Heart Failure under WeChat Platform.Computational intelligence and neuroscience · 2022Trial
- Effectiveness of a smartphone-based educational intervention to improve breastfeeding.International breastfeeding journal · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Co-Development of an Evidence-Based Breastfeeding Support Intervention, Optimised for Delivery in Healthcare Settings, and Adaptations for Mothers With Long-Term Conditions: The Action for Breastfeeding (A4B) Programme.Maternal & child nutrition · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe benefits of breastfeeding for both infants and mothers have been well recognized. However, the exclusive breastfeeding rate in China is low and decreasing. Mobile technologies have rapidly developed; communication apps such as WeChat (one of the largest social networking platforms in China) are widely used and have the potential to conveniently improve health behaviors.
objectiveThis study aimed to assess the effectiveness of using WeChat to improve breastfeeding practices.
methodsThis 2-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted among pregnant women from May 2019 to April 2020 in Huzhu County, Qinghai Province, China. Pregnant women were eligible to participate if they were aged 18 years or older, were 11 to 37 weeks pregnant with a singleton fetus, had no known illness that could limit breastfeeding after childbirth, used WeChat through their smartphone, and had access to the internet. A total of 344 pregnant women were recruited at baseline, with 170 in the intervention group and 174 in the control group. Women in the intervention group received breastfeeding knowledge and promotion information weekly through a WeChat official account from their third month of pregnancy to 6 months postpartum. The primary outcome of exclusive and predominant breastfeeding rate was measured 0-1 month, 2-3 months, and 4-5 months postpartum.
resultsAt 0-1 month postpartum, the exclusive breastfeeding rate was significantly higher in the intervention group than that in the control group (81.1% vs 63.3%; odds ratio [OR] 2.75, 95% CI 1.58-4.78; P<.001). Similarly, mothers in the intervention group were more likely to provide predominantly breast milk (OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.55-4.96; P<.001) and less likely to give dairy products to their children (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.21-0.75; P=.005). There was no statistically significant difference for exclusive breastfeeding rate 2-3 months (P=.09) and 4-5 months postpartum (P=.27), though more children in the intervention group were exclusively breastfed than those in the control group 2-3 months postpartum (intervention: 111/152, 73.0%; control: 96/152, 63.2%) and 4-5 months postpartum(intervention: 50/108, 46.3%; control: 46/109, 42.2%).
conclusionsThis study is the first effort to promote exclusive breastfeeding through WeChat in China, which proved to be an effective method of promoting exclusive breastfeeding in early life. WeChat health education can be used in addition to local breastfeeding promotion programs.
trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1800017364; http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=29325. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/s12889-019-7676-2.
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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.