ArticleCureus2026
Beyond Access: A Multi-domain Framework for Assessing Digital Health Underutilisation in Non-communicable Disease Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
Article in Cureus, 2026. 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
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Digital-health technologies are increasingly being incorporated into the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs); however, meaningful utilisation remains inconsistent in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) despite expanding digital infrastructure and telemedicine availability. Existing literature has largely focused on disease-specific interventions or individual digital-health tools, while structured, implementation-oriented frameworks for assessing digital-health underutilisation across diverse NCD settings remain limited. This technical report presents a practical multi-domain framework for assessing digital-health underutilisation in NCD care within LMIC settings. The framework conceptualises utilisation as a multidimensional process influenced by structural access, individual capability, behavioural readiness, and health-system factors. It incorporates assessment domains related to device and internet access, digital and eHealth literacy, attitudes toward digital-health use, contextual barriers, and integration within routine healthcare pathways. The report additionally outlines a stepwise implementation workflow intended to support structured assessment across outpatient, community, and chronic disease-care settings. The framework was informed by practical operational experience derived from structured outpatient digital-health assessment implemented within a tertiary-care setting in Southern India and is designed to remain adaptable across a broader range of NCD-care environments. Digital-health underutilisation in LMICs reflects a complex interaction of technological, behavioural, literacy-related, and health-system determinants rather than limitations in access alone. The framework presented in this report provides a practical and reproducible implementation-oriented approach for systematically evaluating barriers to digital-health utilisation and may support context-sensitive strategies for strengthening digital-health integration within NCD care.
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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.