ArticleDigital health
The role of age and digital competence on the use of online health and social care services: A cross-sectional population-based survey.
Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 4 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
62 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Digital Inequalities in the Use of eHealth Services in European Public Health Care Systems: Systematic Review of Observational Studies.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of digital interventions on adherence to the management of type 1 diabetes mellitus patients: a systematic review.BMC endocrine disorders · 2025Pooled it
- Extending Signaling Theory in Online Health Communities to Address Medical Information Asymmetry: Systematic Review With Narrative Synthesis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Smartphone Apps for Patients With Hematologic Malignancies: Systematic Review and Evaluation of Content.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Pooled it
- Patient-reported outcomes and home-based self-swabs for influenza-like illness events - lessons learned from the 2023/2024 DANFLU-2 Homeswab PRO substudy.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2025Trial
- Testing an HPV Vaccine Decision Aid for 27- to 45-Year-Old Adults in the United States: A Randomized Trial.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2025Trial
- Digital clinic users in Finnish public primary care: their characteristics, reasons for visits, and equity considerations - a register study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Observational
- Beyond technology usefulness: Health system reliability, and socio-demographic and professional factors as shapers of technostress in physicians.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Behavioral intentions toward a mobile mental health screening and support tool suite for healthcare professionals in Ethiopia.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Factors Associated with Produce Prescription Program Enrollment and Benefit Use among Patients with Diabetes and at Risk for Food Insecurity.The Journal of nutrition · 2026Observational
- How patients navigate specialist referral pathways in hand surgery: a cross-sectional survey study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Applying a gender and equity matrix for a contextualized antimicrobial stewardship intervention in Pakistan.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Barriers and facilitators to implementing digital psychosocial interventions for older adults presenting to emergency departments: a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Digital exclusion in healthcare services: a scoping review.International journal for equity in health · 2026Review
- Digital and traditional recruitment strategies and participation patterns in the multicenter Healthy Brain Ageing study.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Internet Usage, Social Participation, and Depression Symptoms Among Middle-Aged and Older Adult Chinese Individuals Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Medical deserts in Finland: measuring the accessibility and availability of primary health care services.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- How does internet use affect the sense of gain in older adults? A moderated mediation model.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Structural Validity and Internal Consistency of the Professional Nurse Self-Assessment A-Scale (II) for Measuring Clinical Competence Among Graduating Nordic Nursing Students.Nursing research and practice · 2025Article
- Computational algorithm based on health and lifestyle traits to categorize lifemetabotypes in the NUTRiMDEA cohort.Scientific reports · 2024Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveOnline health and social care services are getting widespread which increases the risk that less advantaged groups may not be able to access these services resulting in digital exclusion. We examined the combined effects of age and digital competence on the use of online health and social care services.
methodsWe used a large representative population-based sample of 4495 respondents from Finland. Paper-based self-assessment questionnaire with an online response option was mailed to participants. The associations were analyzed using survey weighted logistic regression, exploring potential non-linear effects of age and controlling for potential sex differences.
resultsHigher age, starting from around the age of 60 was associated with a lower likelihood of using online services for receiving test results, renewing prescriptions and scheduling appointments. Good digital competence was able to hinder the age-related decline in online services use, but only up to around the age of 80.
conclusionsOur results suggest that older adults are at risk of digital exclusion, and not even good digital competence alleviates this risk among the oldest. We suggest that health and social care providers should consider older users' needs and abilities more thoroughly and offer easy to use online services. More digital support and training possibilities should be provided for older people. It is equally important that face-to-face and telephone services will be continued to be provided for those older people who are not able to use online services even when supported.
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.