ArticleBMC health services research2025
Bridging the digital health divide: digital endowment, informal social participation, and health inequality among older adults.
Article in BMC health services research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Digital Divide or Compensatory Dividend? The Longitudinal Impact of Smart Health Monitoring on Intrinsic Capacity Trajectories.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Digital health equity among older adult(s): a conceptual analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Short-form video usage and cognitive function among rural older adults in northern China: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The impact of physical exercise on medical expenditure among middle-aged and older adults: digital literacy as a moderating variable.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDigital technology, as a new quality productive force, offers novel approaches to actively address population aging. The development and enhancement of digital endowment among older adults not only affects their physical and mental health but also serves as a crucial driver for advancing the construction of a digital society and mitigating health inequality.
methodsBased on data from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this research examines the impact of digital endowment on health inequality among older adults from a micro-individual perspective, along with the mediating role of informal social interaction.
resultsFirst, digital endowment demonstrated a significant positive association with health status and a consistent negative relationship with the degree of health inequality among older adults. These results were corroborated by multiple robustness tests. Second, the connection between digital endowment and health disparities displayed structural heterogeneity, with stronger negative associations observed among women, individuals with primary education, and older adults residing in central China. Third, mediation analysis revealed that self-support and family intergenerational support played significant mediating roles. The self-support pathway was linked to reduced health disparities, while the family intergenerational support pathway exhibited an opposing pattern. Peer support showed no statistically significant mediating effect.
conclusionGuided by the principle of digital inclusion, efforts should focus on equalizing digital infrastructure construction and providing age-appropriate digital skills training to enhance the digital endowment of older adults. Emphasis should be placed on leveraging peer influence and encouraging digital reverse mentoring to build online-offline social networks. Health forums and mutual aid communities can strengthen the accumulation of informal social support for older adults. Concurrently, differentiated intervention strategies for urban/rural areas and regions should be implemented, alongside promoting the interconnectivity and sharing of digital health resources. This will systematically bridge the digital divide among older adults, accelerate the holistic development of Digital China, and ensure universal access to digital dividends. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.
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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 Socratic graph.