ArticleBMC health services research2024
The impact of digital technology on health inequality: evidence from China.
Article in BMC health services research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Use of Digital Health Interventions Among Forcibly Displaced People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- Gender differences in the long-term impact of early-life exposure to war on physical and mental health: Evidence from China.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Factors associated with satisfaction with teledentistry care among patients from a rural and an urban population in Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Striving to make the right decision when seeking emergency care: patients' stories of navigating support alternatives in a digital society, a qualitative study.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Lifestyle Medicine in China: The Fuwai Hospital Lifestyle Medicine Initiative.American journal of lifestyle medicine · 2026Article
- How are health capital and income inequality linked? Analysis of the 2012-2018 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey.Health policy and planning · 2025Article
- Can internet usage reduce health inequality among rural residents? Evidence from China.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The association between subjective socioeconomic status and depressive symptoms in women of reproductive age: the chain mediating effects of marital satisfaction and well-being.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Digital empowerment: Can the development of the smart health and elderly care enhance older adults' subjective well-being?Digital healthArticle
- The impact of smart healthcare and eldercare on older adults' health and health inequality: Evidence from China.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWith the rapid development of digital technology, it is crucial to explore at the individual microlevel whether digital technology can reduce health inequality and discuss potential transmission mechanisms.
methodsThis study uses data from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS 2020) and the ordinary least squares (OLS) method to estimate the impact of digital technology on health inequality. This work then discusses the potential transmission mechanisms through which digital technology influences health inequality. Finally, it analyses the heterogeneity effects of digital technology on health inequality across different groups.
resultsWe find that digital technology has reduced both physical and mental health inequality. Strengthening family support, enhancing health investment, and improving health behaviours are the transmission paths from digital technology to health inequality. Groups with older cohorts, females, less-educated individuals, low-income individuals, and rural individuals benefit more from physical health inequality, whereas the impact of digital technology on mental health inequality does not differ across groups.
conclusionDigital technology has a significant impact on reducing both physical and mental health inequality, with particularly notable benefits for vulnerable populations. It is imperative to focus more on the targeted effects of digital technology on these marginalized groups.
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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.