Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41195381›Full record

ArticleDigital health

When telehealth fails rural communities: The 40% internet threshold that changes everything.

Heidy Rico Fontalvo, Florentino Rico, Mario de la Puente, Jose Torres, Hernan Guzman

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Heidy Rico FontalvoBusiness Administration Program (Distance Learning Mode), University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia.
Florentino RicoPublic Accounting Program, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Barranquilla, Colombia.
Mario de la PuenteDepartment of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0783-1267
Jose TorresDepartment of Business Management, Universidad de Sucre, Sincelejo, Colombia.
Hernan GuzmanDepartment of Business Management, Universidad de Sucre, Sincelejo, Colombia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This cross-national ecological study investigated whether rural internet penetration moderates the relationship between telehealth adoption and preventive care utilization. Analyzing secondary data from multilateral organizations (2019-2023) across 42 countries, hierarchical linear modeling, moderated regression, and propensity score matching tested interaction effects. Results identified a 40%-50% rural internet penetration threshold below which telehealth investments showed minimal impact on preventive care access. Above this threshold, telehealth adoption strongly correlated with improved utilization. These findings suggest digital infrastructure development represents a prerequisite for effective telehealth implementation rather than a complementary factor.

Indexed as

digital infrastructurepreventive carerural healthTelehealththreshold effects

Identifiers

PMID41195381
PMCPMC12583876

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.