Instant messaging client gives the opportunity to recognize gut microbiota and dysbiosis-related disease: An investigation study on WeChat APP

OBJECTIVES: Gut microbiota and dysbiosis are closely related to the occurrence and development of various diseases. It is necessary to popularize gut microbiota-related knowledge to the public. And the instant messaging client on smartphones supplies a perfect tool to achieve this goal. Hence, we will describe the current status of gut microbiota education spread by WeChat official accounts. METHODS: The keywords of “gut microbiota,” “fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT),” and “probiotics” were searched in the articles published from January 2015 to August 2020 on the WeChat official accounts. And the data were analyzed based on the 10 common gut dysbiosis-related diseases. RESULTS: A total of 3061 WeChat official accounts have published 11,239 articles on gut microbiota dysbiosis-related diseases, with a rising trend in the total article numbers and the total pageviews. The keywords of “gut microbiota” dominate 50.61%, and the articles on inflammatory bowel disease had the largest proportion. Additionally, articles on the keyword “gut microbiota” also included cancer and obesity, articles on the keyword “FMT” mainly consist of Clostridium difficile infection and psychological disease, and the keyword “probiotics” was mainly related to obesity and irritable bowel syndrome disease. The top three total pageviews were on inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and cancer. CONCLUSION: This study indicates the current research hotspots and public concerns on the gut microbiota, and WeChat as an instant messaging client plays an important role in promoting the scientific popularization of gut microbiota.