ArticleBMC public health2021
"AI's gonna have an impact on everything in society, so it has to have an impact on public health": a fundamental qualitative descriptive study of the implications of artificial intelligence for public health.
Article in BMC public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 5 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
33 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 105 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adoption of artificial intelligence in primary health care: systematic synthesis of stakeholder perspectives.BMC primary care · 2026Pooled it
- Ethical issues raised by artificial intelligence and big data in population health: a scoping review.Frontiers in sociology · 2025Pooled it
- Opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence in public health: a systematic review on technological efficacy, ethical dilemmas, and governance pathways.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Stakeholder Perspectives of Clinical Artificial Intelligence Implementation: Systematic Review of Qualitative Evidence.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Artificial Intelligence-Based Wearable Robotic Exoskeletons for Upper Limb Rehabilitation: A Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Pooled it
- Assessment of Large Language Models in Human Resource Challenges across Corporate Hospitals in India: A Cross-sectional Study.Annals of African medicine · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Public Health Education: A Scoping Review of Workforce Competency Development.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Feasibility of AI-driven disease surveillance systems at international airports in sub-Saharan Africa: a narrative review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Digital paradigm of public health.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Opportunities and Challenges for an Organizational Digital Public Health Strategy in a Provincial Public Health Program in Canada: Qualitative Description of Practitioner Perspectives.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- Evolutionary Trajectories of Consciousness: From Biological Foundations to Technological Horizons.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Integrating equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout the lifecycle of artificial intelligence for healthcare: a scoping review.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- Exploring the possibilities and limitations of customized large language model to support and improve cervical cancer screening.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2025Article
- Patients' Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence Acceptance, Challenges, and Use in Medical Care: Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Development of a questionnaire for assessing the use of ChatGPT in primary and secondary disease prevention.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- What is Ethical Accountability?The Journal of law, medicine & ethics : a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics · 2025Review
- A decade of review in global regulation and research of artificial intelligence medical devices (2015-2025).Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- Artificial intelligence in healthcare: a scoping review of perceived threats to patient rights and safety.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Article
- Innovations in public health surveillance: An overview of novel use of data and analytic methods.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2024Article
- Epidemic intelligence in Europe: a user needs perspective to foster innovation in digital health surveillance.BMC public health · 2024Article
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 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOur objective was to determine the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on public health practice.
methodsWe used a fundamental qualitative descriptive study design, enrolling 15 experts in public health and AI from June 2018 until July 2019 who worked in North America and Asia. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews, iteratively coded the resulting transcripts, and analyzed the results thematically.
resultsWe developed 137 codes, from which nine themes emerged. The themes included opportunities such as leveraging big data and improving interventions; barriers to adoption such as confusion regarding AI's applicability, limited capacity, and poor data quality; and risks such as propagation of bias, exacerbation of inequity, hype, and poor regulation.
conclusionsExperts are cautiously optimistic about AI's impacts on public health practice, particularly for improving disease surveillance. However, they perceived substantial barriers, such as a lack of available expertise, and risks, including inadequate regulation. Therefore, investment and research into AI for public health practice would likely be beneficial. However, increased access to high-quality data, research and education regarding the limitations of AI, and development of rigorous regulation are necessary to realize these benefits.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.