ReviewJMIR mental health2023
Effectiveness of Digital Mental Health Tools to Reduce Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Review in JMIR mental health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 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
39 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of Digital Health Interventions on College Students' Lifestyle Behaviors: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Instant messaging-based digital health interventions for diabetes management: a domain-structured systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of internet-based interventions to reduce suicidal ideation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Use of Technology to Support Health Care Providers Delivering Care in Low- and Lower-Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Umbrella Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Digital Health Intervention for and Long-Term Health Outcomes of a Divorce Cohort With Linked Danish Data: 5-Year Posttrial Follow-Up of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Effectiveness, Usability, and Satisfaction of a Self-Administered Digital Intervention for Reducing Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in a University Community in the Andean Region of Peru: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR formative research · 2025Trial
- Cost analysis of integrating depression treatment into chronic care in Malawi: evidence from a cluster randomised controlled trial.BMJ open · 2025Trial
- Client experiences of a task-shifting supported self-management intervention for depression in Vietnam.BMC health services research · 2024Trial
- Mental health burdens, typhoon and structural health inequities: evidence from a global perspective.Global health action · 2026Article
- Article
- Enhancing Workplace Outcomes Through Digital Behavioral Health Programs: Retrospective Real-World Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Global Disparities in Teletherapy Adoption: A Cross-Income Analysis of Mental Health Access.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Innovations to improve outcomes and uptake of psychotherapies for mental disorders: a state-of-the-art review.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- Safety and preliminary efficacy of Aurora: a pilot, non-randomized clinical trial of a culturally adapted digital cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for anxiety and depression in Mexico.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The pieces are already built: converging India's national assets to close the mental health treatment gap.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Delivering low-intensity psychological interventions in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis of lay health workers' experiences.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- Implementing Digital Tools for Mental Health Support in Young Individuals in Colombia: Mixed Methods Feasibility Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Article
- Associations of internet use and pregnancy loss with depression and anxiety among women in Bangladesh: evidence from the 2022 BDHS.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Digital Health Interventions for Depression and Anxiety in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Rapid Scoping Review.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDepression and anxiety contribute to an estimated 74.6 million years of life with disability, and 80% of this burden occurs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where there is a large gap in care.
objectiveWe aimed to systematically synthesize available evidence and quantify the effectiveness of digital mental health interventions in reducing depression and anxiety in LMICs.
methodsIn this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases from the inception date to February 2022. We included randomized controlled trials conducted in LMICs that compared groups that received digital health interventions with controls (active control, treatment as usual, or no intervention) on depression or anxiety symptoms. Two reviewers independently extracted summary data reported in the papers and performed study quality assessments. The outcomes were postintervention measures of depression or anxiety symptoms (Hedges g). We calculated the pooled effect size weighted by inverse variance.
resultsAmong 11,196 retrieved records, we included 80 studies in the meta-analysis (12,070 participants n=6052, 50.14% in the intervention group and n=6018, 49.85% in the control group) and 96 studies in the systematic review. The pooled effect sizes were -0.61 (95% CI -0.78 to -0.44; n=67 comparisons) for depression and -0.73 (95% CI -0.93 to -0.53; n=65 comparisons) for anxiety, indicating that digital health intervention groups had lower postintervention depression and anxiety symptoms compared with controls. Although heterogeneity was considerable (I
conclusionsDigital mental health tools are moderately to highly effective in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms in LMICs. Thus, they could be effective options to close the gap in depression and anxiety care in LMICs, where the usual mental health care is minimal.
trial registrationPROSPERO CRD42021289709; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=289709.
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.