ArticleDigital health
Digital access and health outcomes: The moderating role of socioeconomic status in health information seeking.
Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Digital health disparities represent a growing equity concern in an era of increasing reliance on digital platforms for health information, yet unequal access and utilization patterns may disadvantage vulnerable populations. This study investigates how socioeconomic inequalities shape the relationship between digital access and health outcomes, specifically examining the mediating role of health information seeking and the moderating effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on the pathway from digital access to health information seeking. Methods: This study analyzed cross-sectional data from the 2021 China General Social Survey ( Results: Digital access significantly predicted better health outcomes. However, health information seeking did not mediate this relationship when SES was controlled. Importantly, SES emerged as a moderator of the association between digital access and health information seeking, revealing that digital access yielded greater information-seeking benefits for higher SES individuals. Conclusion: Digital access improves health outcomes, but not through health information seeking as commonly assumed. SES moderates the link between digital access and health information seeking, with benefits concentrated among advantaged groups, potentially exacerbating health inequalities. Effective digital health policies need address not only technology access but also the socioeconomic barriers that prevent disadvantaged populations from translating digital access into health information seeking and improved health outcomes.
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Registered trials
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