Objective To analyse the elements of the final reports of nationwide infectious diseases public health emergencies in 2023, and to provide a reference basis for improving the quality of writing the final reports.

Methods Collected the final reports of infectious disease-related public health emergencies from the Public Health Emergency Management Information System (referred to as the Emergency System) in 2023. These reports were related to incidents classified as general or higher and had been finalized. Conducted a descriptive analysis of the writing elements present in the titles, main body, and signatures.

Results A total of 678 final reports were included in the analysis. All reports had titles, with the majority (67.40%) having 20 to 30 Chinese characters. The writing rates for event types (99.85%), occurrence locations/venues (98.23%), and report types (94.99%) were relatively high, whereas institutions (11.95%) and event levels (0.15%) had lower writing rates. In the main body, the five elements with the lowest writing rates were “Risk assessment and analysis” (7.37%), “Investigation of close contacts or potential risk populations” (9.14%), “Existing problems and deficiencies” (10.32%), “Cost-benefit analysis” (14.60%), and “Experience and lessons learned” (23.01%). Conversely, the five elements with the highest writing rates were “Disposal measures adopted” (99.41%), “Clinical manifestations” (95.58%), “Background information” (95.43%), “Event discovery process” (92.33%), and “Case closure situation” (87.17%). Statistical charts were used in 76.99% (522/678) of the reports to present the three-dimensional distribution characteristics. The time distribution was most frequently presented (95.40%), followed by the spatial distribution (70.69%), while the population distribution was the least reported (33.52%). 98.08% (665/678) of the reports included signatures. The writing rates for the date (99.85%) and institution (98.65%) were relatively high, whereas those for personnel (9.62%) and contact information (2.86%) were notably lower.

Conclusion There are some deficiencies in the writing elements of final reports for infectious disease public health emergencies in China. Strengthening the capacity of professionals and formulating national specifications for final report are required to improve the quality of these reports.