ReviewFrontiers in digital health2026
Considering the trade-offs of environmental, social, and governance risk in digital health.
Review in Frontiers in digital health, 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
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Digital health innovations are increasingly recognized as cost-efficient and scalable solutions to improve healthcare delivery and accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, limited research has examined these technologies within broader socio-economic and sustainability contexts, particularly regarding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risks and potential trade-offs. Methods: This narrative review integrates digital health within an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework. Literature on digital health, sustainability, and ESG-relevant risk was identified through searches of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, supplemented by reference-list screening and purposive inclusion of policy and institutional reports; searches were last updated in May 2026. Eligible sources addressed digital health technologies and engaged with at least one ESG domain. Sources were synthesised thematically across the environmental, social, and governance domains, and a conceptual framework was developed to support evaluation of ESG-related trade-offs in digital health implementation Results: The review highlights that digital health solutions, while offering significant benefits in accessibility and efficiency, may exacerbate health inequalities, increase environmental burdens through energy consumption and carbon emissions, and raise governance concerns related to ethics, data privacy, and regulation. The findings emphasize the interdependence of ESG factors and demonstrate that isolated evaluation of these dimensions can lead to incomplete or misleading conclusions. A preliminary framework is proposed to guide the systematic assessment of ESG trade-offs in digital health interventions. Discussion: Integrating ESG considerations into digital health innovation is essential to ensure sustainable and equitable healthcare outcomes. The proposed framework provides a foundation for evaluating the broader impacts of digital health technologies, though further research is needed to develop standardized metrics and a comprehensive ESG taxonomy. Incorporating ESG principles into policy and implementation strategies will enhance the long-term effectiveness and societal value of digital health solutions.
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.