SynthesisEuropean journal of public health2024
The role of digital tools and emerging devices in COVID-19 contact tracing during the first 18 months of the pandemic: a systematic review.
Synthesis in European journal of public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transforming a Pandemic Tool Into a Public Health Asset: Modified Delphi Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- Characteristics Influencing Support for the National Health Service COVID-19 App in England and Wales: Findings From a Longitudinal Survey.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Demand creation for testing and Covid-19 surveillance indicators in the Covid-19 Testing, Isolation, Quarantine, and Telemonitoring Study.Revista de saude publica · 2026Article
- Digital approaches in post-COVID healthcare: a systematic review of technological innovations in disease management.Biology methods & protocols · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundContact tracing is a public health intervention implemented in synergy with other preventive measures to curb epidemics, like the coronavirus pandemic. The development and use of digital devices have increased worldwide to enhance the contact tracing process. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of tracking coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients using digital solutions.
methodsObservational studies on digital contact tracing (DCT), published 2020-21, in English were identified through a systematic literature review performed on nine online databases. An ad hoc form was used for data extraction of relevant information. Quality assessment of the included studies was performed with validated tools. A qualitative synthesis of the findings is reported.
resultsOver 8000 records were identified and 37 were included in the study: 24 modelling and 13 population-based studies. DCT improved the identification of close contacts of COVID-19 cases and reduced the effective reproduction number of COVID-19-related infections and deaths by over 60%. It impacted positively on societal and economic costs, in terms of lockdowns and use of resources, including staffing. Privacy and security issues were reported in 27 studies.
conclusionsDCT contributed to curbing the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with the high uptake rate of the devices and in combination with other public health measures, especially conventional contact tracing. The main barriers to the implementation of the devices are uptake rate, security and privacy issues. Public health digitalization and contact tracing are the keys to countries' emergency preparedness for future health crises.
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