European doctors came to Medscape Medical News in 2025 for two things: help with the clinical “now” — such as the everyday management of chronic disease — and help making sense of the clinical “next,” from fast-moving therapeutics to personalized medicine and artificial intelligence (AI). But the year’s most read stories also point to a third, increasingly urgent thread: concern about doctors’ own working conditions and mental health, with healthcare systems across the continent often described as “in crisis.”

Across specialties, the biggest draws were practical, patient-facing topics and the clear translation of new evidence into decisions that can be made in a busy clinic. The most read themes included:

• Diet and nutrition (vitamin D, intermittent fasting, potential reversal of type 2 diabetes, red wine, preventive nutrition, and lifestyle counseling)
• Cardiovascular risk management (hypertension treatment and lifestyle changes)
• Cancer risk factors (including less obvious risks such as alcohol, tattoos, and barbecues)
• Patient safety (drug adverse effects, the effects of workload and staffing shortages on care, and clinician stress and burnout)
• Career development and training (recruitment, mentoring, and specialty training)
• Public health (immunization and infection control)
• New understandings of human biology (gut bacteria, the microbiome, and how medications can interfere)
• Technology’s growing role in care (AI and other tools to improve patient care and system efficiency)
• Aging
• Dementia (especially Alzheimer’s disease)
• Inevitably, a handful of quirky reads — from what sperm can reveal about health to participatory ethnobotany and methylene blue

Technology Changing Clinical Practice

Commenting to Medscape News Europe, Milena Schönke, PhD, scientific officer for the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), said, “What we see across the European diabetology community is that GLP-1 receptor agonists continue to be a major focus.” This is not only for their role in glycemic control but also for the combined treatment of diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases, she explained.

What performs best with clinicians, Schönke said, is content that does the hard work of interpretation: articles that clearly explain emerging evidence, compare agents alone and in combination, and address real-world implementation. Personalized diabetes care is another major interest, as are continuous glucose monitors, hybrid closed-loop systems, and the growing integration of AI into these technologies — developments that are rapidly changing clinical practice.

“Clinicians value practical articles that help them navigate the meaningful integration of these tools into routine care,” she said.

Psychological Well-Being a Cornerstone of Diabetes Care

Schönke also noted that the mental health dimension of type 1 and type 2 diabetes was gaining “overdue attention.” She said the EASD will shortly publish its first guideline on “diabetes distress,” the emotional burden that arises from the challenges of continuously managing diabetes. The message is clear: Psychological well-being is not an add-on but a cornerstone of diabetes care.

“Content that helps clinicians recognize, discuss, and manage diabetes distress is increasingly important and highly appreciated by specialists who see these challenges daily in their patients.”

Cardiovascular Care Increasingly Cross-Disciplinary

“Cardiologists across Europe are increasingly interested in content that helps them navigate a rapidly evolving clinical and scientific landscape,” agreed Felix Mahfoud, MD, MA, chairman of the Department of Cardiology at University Hospital Basel in Basel, Switzerland, and chair of the European Society of Cardiology’s communications committee. Articles that translate new evidence into practical recommendations remain particularly valuable, he said. Clinicians also appreciate concise updates on new therapies — both emerging devices and novel drugs — and developments in precision medicine. AI-enabled diagnostics, decision-support tools, and digital health are also rising areas where balanced, evidence-based interpretation is welcomed.

Individualized, patient-centered risk management continues to be central in cardiovascular care, Mahfoud added. Clinicians consistently seek high-quality papers on hypertension, lipid management, diabetes, obesity, and the expanding role of GLP-1 receptor agonists beyond weight loss.

There is also growing interest in cross-disciplinary topics, he said. “The intersection of cardiology with metabolic disease, nephrology, oncology, and neurology — including dementia and cognitive decline — reflects how broad cardiovascular medicine has become.”

Making Sense of Rapid Clinical Change

Also commenting to Medscape News Europe, Álvaro Cerame, MBBS, president of the European Junior Doctors Association (EJD) and a psychiatrist based in Madrid, Spain, said: “From what we see in the EJD, doctors in Europe are drawn to content that helps them make sense of rapid clinical change and everyday clinical dilemmas.”

The most popular pieces tend to pair clear explanations of new evidence — for example, around GLP-1 receptor agonists, cardiovascular prevention, infections, or dementia — with the practical questions patients bring to the consultation, such as alcohol use, longevity, exercise, environmental exposures, or everyday risks. “Articles that spell out what recent studies and guidelines actually mean for the next clinic, ward round, or on-call shift are particularly valued,” he said.

Articles on Working Conditions Resonate Strongly

Reading habits vary by specialty, but there is “a very clear cross-cutting interest in professional well-being, workload, and working conditions,” Cerame added. “Medscape pieces that address burnout, staffing, and doctors’ mental health resonate strongly with junior doctors and mirror the wider attention to the workforce crisis in Europe,” he said.

For example, EJD’s own REST-JD report found “widespread dissatisfaction” with long working hours, excessive workloads, and impaired work-life balance, echoing findings from Medscape surveys of European readers. Another Medscape survey earlier this year also highlighted the scale of workplace sexual harassment reported by European physicians.

The toll on mental health was underscored by the World Health Organization/Europe MeND study, which revealed that 1 in 3 doctors and nurses had reported depression and 1 in 10 experienced passive suicidal thoughts.

“Many of us would like to see even more journalism that connects these two dimensions: high-quality clinical updates and an honest look at what it takes to deliver that care safely and sustainably in understaffed, high-pressure systems,” Cerame said.