Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42297970›Full record

ArticleNPJ digital medicine2026

An evidence gap map of digital health interventions for enhancing patient engagement in healthcare.

Usman Iqbal, Yankuba B Manga, Dumisani Enricho Nkhoma, Afifa Tanweer, Syed Measum Haider Bokhari, Mochammad Fadjar Wibowo, Chih-Wei Huang, Anis Fuad, Rachael Smithson, Yi-Hsin Elsa Hsu and 6 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in NPJ digital medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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

16 authors.

Usman IqbalInstitute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine Bond University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. uiqbal@bond.edu.au.
Yankuba B MangaMaster Program in Smart Healthcare Management, Master Program in Artificial Intelligence Applications and Management, and Bachelor Program in Smart Sustainable Development and Management, International College of Sustainability Innovations, National Taipei University (NTPU), New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Dumisani Enricho NkhomaInstitute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine Bond University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Afifa TanweerDepartment of Medicine, Internal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital and University Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Syed Measum Haider BokhariIntegrated Engineering Centre of Excellence (IECE), The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
Mochammad Fadjar WibowoFaculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Chih-Wei HuangGraduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Anis FuadEpidemiology and Population Health, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Rachael SmithsonMedical Education, Clinical Governance and Research, Gold Coast Hospital & Health Service (GCHHS), Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Yi-Hsin Elsa HsuBioTech EMBA Program, School of Healthcare Administration, International Ph.D. Program in Biotech and Healthcare Management, College of Management, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Robin GauldBond Business School, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Nicholas ZwarFaculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Julie RedfernInstitute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine Bond University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Leo Anthony CeliLaboratory for Computational Physiology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Yu-Chuan Jack LiGraduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Friedbert KohlerSchool of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Digital health interventions (DHIs) are increasingly used to strengthen patient engagement. However, despite its rapid growth, DHIs remain unevenly evaluated and poorly standardized. Six databases were searched to generate an evidence gap map of interventions and research gaps for DHIs targeting patient engagement. A total of 160 systematic reviews (including 42 meta-analyses) comprising 3974 primary studies were mapped with most (92%) conducted in high-income countries. Evidence was concentrated around mHealth, eHealth, telehealth, and messaging technologies. Commonly reported outcomes included medication adherence, quality of life, implementation outcomes, and self-management. Overall, 61% of reviews reported positive conclusions, although most were rated as low or critically low methodological quality. Priority areas include strengthening evidence from LMICs, evaluating long-term and emerging DHIs (e.g., wearables and gamified platforms), and improving methodological rigor for systematic reviews. The findings highlight disparities in the global DHI evidence base and identify priority gaps for future research and implementation.

Identifiers

PMID42297970
PMCPMC13631263

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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.