Digital health

For the "health" of computers, see malware.

Digital health is a discipline that includes digital care programs, technologies with health, healthcare, living, and society to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and to make medicine more personalized and precise.[1][2][3][4] It uses information and communication technologies to facilitate understanding of health problems and challenges faced by people receiving medical treatment[4] and social prescribing in more personalised and precise ways. The definitions of digital health and its remits overlap in many ways with those of health and medical informatics.

Worldwide adoption of electronic medical records has been on the rise since 1990.[5] Digital health is a multi-disciplinary domain involving many stakeholders, including clinicians, researchers and scientists with a wide range of expertise in healthcare, engineering, social sciences, public health, health economics and data management.[6]

Digital health technologies include both hardware and software solutions and services, including telemedicine, wearable devices, augmented reality, and virtual reality.[7][8] Generally, digital health interconnects health systems to improve the use of computational technologies, smart devices, computational analysis techniques, and communication media to aid healthcare professionals and their patients manage illnesses and health risks, as well as promote health and wellbeing.[4][8]

Although digital health platforms enable rapid and inexpensive communications, critics warn against potential privacy violations of personal health data and the role digital health could play in increasing the health and digital divide between social majority and minority groups, possibly leading to mistrust and hesitancy to use digital health systems.[9][10][11]

  1. ^ Walker, Mark (2023). Digital Health: How modern technology is changing medicine and healthcare. Sheffield, UK: Sicklebrook publishing. ISBN 978-1446755969.
  2. ^ Fadahunsi KP, Akinlua JT, O'Connor S, Wark PA, Gallagher J, Carroll C, et al. (March 2019). "Protocol for a systematic review and qualitative synthesis of information quality frameworks in eHealth". BMJ Open. 9 (3): e024722. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024722. PMC 6429947. PMID 30842114.
  3. ^ Chen CE, Harrington RA, Desai SA, Mahaffey KW, Turakhia MP (June 2019). "Characteristics of Digital Health Studies Registered in ClinicalTrials.gov". JAMA Internal Medicine. 179 (6): 838–840. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.7235. PMC 6547144. PMID 30801617.
  4. ^ a b c Bhavnani SP, Narula J, Sengupta PP (May 2016). "Mobile technology and the digitization of healthcare". European Heart Journal. 37 (18): 1428–38. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehv770. PMC 4914890. PMID 26873093.
  5. ^ "Global diffusion of eHealth: Making universal health coverage achievable". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  6. ^ O'Donoghue J, Herbert J (1 October 2012). "Data Management within mHealth Environments: Patient Sensors, Mobile Devices, and Databases". Journal of Data and Information Quality. 4 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1145/2378016.2378021. S2CID 2318649.
  7. ^ Widmer RJ, Collins NM, Collins CS, West CP, Lerman LO, Lerman A (April 2015). "Digital health interventions for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis". Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 90 (4): 469–80. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2014.12.026. PMC 4551455. PMID 25841251.
  8. ^ a b "Digital health". US Food and Drug Administration. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  9. ^ Mclaughlin M, Delaney T, Hall A, Byaruhanga J, Mackie P, Grady A, et al. (February 2021). "Associations Between Digital Health Intervention Engagement, Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behavior: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 23 (2): e23180. doi:10.2196/23180. PMC 8011420. PMID 33605897.
  10. ^ Donkin L, Christensen H, Naismith SL, Neal B, Hickie IB, Glozier N (August 2011). "A systematic review of the impact of adherence on the effectiveness of e-therapies". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 13 (3): e52. doi:10.2196/jmir.1772. PMC 3222162. PMID 21821503.
  11. ^ "What is digital health technology and what can it do for me?". NIHR Evidence. 2022. doi:10.3310/nihrevidence_53447. S2CID 252584020.