Journal of Medical Internet Research

Digital health technologies are increasingly being used in scoliosis rehabilitation, but current evidence remains fragmented, and the effectiveness of these technologies across different categories, and their implementation in the real world remains unclear.

Pediatric rare diseases often cause a prolonged diagnostic odyssey. AI, including machine learning, deep learning, large language models (LLMs), and multimodal systems, may support diagnosis, but these applications in children have not been systematically mapped.

Diabetes mellitus is a major global public health burden, and achieving optimal glycemic control remains challenging. Multidisciplinary, hospital-wide glycemic management systems (HGMS) have emerged as a promising strategy. In the Chinese mainland, the adoption of HGMS has accelerated; yet, substantial variations remain in system functionality, regional coverage, and management effectiveness across hospitals, underscoring the need for a national survey.

Limited public understanding of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) hinders recruitment, retention, and confidence in research. Early exposure to trial concepts may strengthen health literacy and research engagement. The Kid’s Trial was a global, decentralized, child-led study that cocreated and conducted an RCT to help children understand trials and their importance and to improve critical thinking.

Noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI)–based interventions show promise for poststroke motor recovery. However, the intrinsic complexity of BCI-based interventions limits the determination of their comparative efficacy.

Wearable and connected digital devices continuously generate large volumes of real-world behavioral, physiological, and environmental data, offering new opportunities for health monitoring and personalized care. Digital phenotyping has emerged as a promising paradigm; yet, there is limited consensus regarding how such data should be analyzed. Inconsistent analytical practices and insufficient methodological reporting may compromise reproducibility, comparability, and the validity of findings.

Stigmatizing language (SL) in electronic health records (EHRs) can influence clinical decision-making, propagate bias across care encounters, and undermine patient trust. Gender-expansive patients (GEPs) may be particularly vulnerable to documentation-based stigma; however, large-scale quantitative evidence and fairness-aware evaluation of automated SL detection methods remain limited.

Real-world persistence with antiobesity pharmacotherapy is suboptimal: only 32% to 50% of patients persist with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists at 12 months, and fewer than 15% reach the 2.4 mg/week target dose. Digital platforms may support engagement, but their role remains poorly characterized.

Lightfoot and colleagues explored patient perspectives on the implementation and sustainability of My Kidneys & Me, a digital self-management intervention for chronic kidney disease, identifying key factors that may influence successful adoption into routine care. The study shows that generating evidence of effectiveness alone is insufficient for successful mobilization into practice, highlighting the importance of embedding implementation evaluation in concert with clinical trials to identify practical strategies that support real-world uptake and sustained use.

Patient portals are essential infrastructure, reinforced by the 21st Century Cures Act, yet adoption remains inequitable. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated portal adoption as telehealth and remote result delivery made electronic access integral to care, but racial and ethnic disparities persisted. Understanding activation determinants is critical for addressing digital health disparities, particularly among neurology patients, for whom cognitive, speech, and mobility impairments can complicate portal use.

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to generate health education materials, yet questions remain about whether LLM-generated content can balance professional accuracy with public accessibility and what ethical challenges may arise during deployment.