SynthesisNature human behaviour2025
Positive association between Internet use and mental health among adults aged ≥50 years in 23 countries.
Synthesis in Nature human behaviour, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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
27 citing papers in PubMed.
- Extreme wealth loss and subsequent mental well-being among adults aged ≥50 years: a multicohort study.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Mobile Phone Call Duration and Cardiovascular Outcomes: Prospective and Genetic Evidence on a Potential Depression-Related Pathway.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Naturalistic Online Language as a Marker of Depression in Midlife and Older Adults: Computational Text Analysis of Bluesky and Reddit Posts.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Association between sedentary time and intrinsic capacity among community-dwelling older adults: evidence from a prospective BLINDSCE cohort.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Association between hobby engagement and frailty among adults aged 65 years and older in 15 countries: findings from four prospective cohort studies.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Older Adults With Symptoms of Depression: Feasibility Cohort Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Social and digital engagement associated with reduced depressive symptoms in adults aged 50 and older: a multi-country cohort study.BMC medicine · 2026Observational
- Associations Between Short-Video Platform Use and Health Across Health Distribution and Usage Behaviors in China: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Effects of a Community-Based Multi-Component Intervention on Subjective Well-Being in Older Adults: The Chofu-Digital-Choju Project in Japan.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Examining the Association Between Internet Use and Perceived Stress in Adults: Longitudinal Observational Study Combining Web Tracking Data With Questionnaires.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Observational
- Active ageing in the digital era: digital literacy, social networks, and mental health among older adults in China.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Internet use and health among older adults in China: Indirect associations through social participation and physical activity.PloS one · 2026Article
- Mental health implications in the older adults of internet access in China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Interpersonal conflicts, social media use and depression associated with protests.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Ten-year trends of the digital divides and its effect on healthy aging among older adults in China from 2011 to 2020.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Social isolation and cognitive decline in older adults: a longitudinal study across 24 countries.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Association of Internet Use Frequency and Purpose with Subjective Well-Being in Japanese Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study from the Chofu-Digital-Choju Project.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Associations between internet use, social participation, and cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults.Npj mental health research · 2025Article
- The potentials of digital technology in social prescribing: a qualitative study of key stakeholders' perspectives.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A study of the deconstruction and construction of self-efficacy in internet use among older people.BMC geriatrics · 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
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The Internet is increasingly important in addressing age-related mental health challenges. We used linear mixed models and meta-analyses to examine the association between Internet use and mental health among 87,559 adults aged ≥50 years from 23 countries. Internet use was associated with fewer depressive symptoms (pooled average marginal effect (AME), -0.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), -0.12 to -0.07), higher life satisfaction (pooled AME, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.10) and better self-reported health (pooled AME, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.12 to 0.17). For two countries (the USA and England) with genetic data available, positive associations between Internet use and mental health were observed across three genetic risk categories. For three countries (the USA, England and China), a higher frequency of Internet use was related to better mental health. Our findings are relevant to public health policies and practices in promoting mental health in later life through the Internet, especially in countries with limited Internet access and mental health services.
Indexed as
Identifiers
39558112What 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.