ReviewDigital health
Immersive futures in healthcare: A mapping review of review articles on the metaverse.
Review in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The metaverse has the potential to transform healthcare and healthcare education by offering immersive, interactive experiences. As research on the metaverse rapidly expands, a synthesis is required to understand its current state, trends, and future directions in healthcare. Methods: We conducted a mapping review of existing review studies on the metaverse in healthcare using topic modeling, hierarchical clustering, and qualitative interpretation. This was complemented by computational text analysis to examine thematic developments and structural patterns. Results: The analysis yielded three distinct clusters: (1) immersive therapeutic and educational applications with intelligent integration, (2) immersive technologies for surgical training and clinical simulation, and (3) integrated, immersive, and intelligent technologies for personalized, networked healthcare. These clusters illustrate a shift from conceptual exploration toward applied, system-level integration. Applications show promise in mental health, surgical education, and personalized care, among others, but the evidence is preliminary. Key risks include privacy concerns, governance gaps, and equity challenges. Conclusions: As enthusiasm for metaverse technologies grows, it is crucial to ensure that optimism does not outpace evidence and readiness. The metaverse offers significant opportunities for human-centered healthcare and professional training, but it requires rigorous validation, ethical frameworks, and inclusive design. To ensure responsible adoption and a sustainable impact, it is critical to align developments with the WHO's strategic objectives of collaboration, implementation, governance, and human-centered systems.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What 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.