Journal of Medical Internet Research

Amid accelerating digital health transformation, China has developed a centrally coordinated data-driven healthy China pathway. This viewpoint conceptualizes this pathway as a hybrid continuous planning framework (HCPF) that links long-term strategic direction with short-cycle tactical adaptation. China’s strategy has progressed through 3 overlapping periods: infrastructure-oriented periodic planning (2015-2018), emergency-driven digital acceleration (2019-2021), and institutionalized continuous planning (2022-2025). The HCPF emerged from cumulative policy layering: Healthy China 2030 set long-range goals, 5-year plans translated these goals into programmatic priorities, annual adjustments enabled recalibration, and emergency response mechanisms and technical iterations supported adaptive implementation. Official reports indicate that China approved more than 2700 internet hospitals by 2024, and by December 2025, a total of 9073 secondary and tertiary public hospitals and 503,000 primary-level public hospitals and grassroots medical and health institutions were connected to regional platforms. The HCPF has supported large-scale data governance, interdepartmental coordination, pilot-based implementation, platform connectivity, and rapid pandemic response. However, it also raises risks related to data privacy, regional disparities, performative compliance, and the burden of agility on grassroots institutions. The transferable lesson is not direct replication of China’s model but the design of temporally layered strategies that combine central coordination local adaptation, data-informed feedback; and safeguards for privacy, equity, and frontline capacity. Digital health incentives should prioritize meaningful clinical value and system connectivity rather than infrastructure adoption alone.

Depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are leading global causes of disability. Standard interventions have slow mechanisms of action, high attrition, and significant accessibility barriers. While intravenous and intranasal ketamine are rapid-acting alternatives, high cost and intensive logistical requirements limit adoption. Sublingual at-home ketamine addresses some gaps but is constrained by low bioavailability and variable absorption. Subcutaneous administration offers high bioavailability and precise dosing, potentially bridging the gap between in-clinic effectiveness and at-home accessibility.

Patients with prostate cancer undergoing androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) must manage complex treatment side effects over extended periods outside the hospital, making online health information–seeking a key approach to self-management. However, individual differences in motivation, digital literacy, and psychosocial context significantly influence how patients seek and use online health information. The patient persona approach, which synthesizes individuals with similar behavioral patterns and needs into representative profiles, offers a practical method for capturing this heterogeneity and informing the design of tailored information support.

AI is rapidly transforming medical practice, with emerging applications in perioperative care and anesthesiology. However, the clinical implementation of AI-assisted decision-making systems in anesthetic management remains challenging and requires comprehensive evaluation.

Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) face significant bleeding risks, particularly those receiving oral anticoagulation; however, existing risk scores such as HAS-BLED and ORBIT demonstrate limited predictive accuracy. Pulse pressure (PP), calculated as the difference between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure, is a noninvasive marker of arterial stiffness that has been associated with cardiovascular outcomes. However, PP has not been evaluated as a predictor of bleeding in this population.

The use of social media (SoMe) during crisis and disaster situations (CaDs) has gained increasing attention across disciplines. However, existing research is highly fragmented and often focused on technical aspects, with a limited understanding of how and which psychosocial information is derived from SoMe in CaDs.

Black communities face disproportionate burdens of health disparities such as chronic disease, maternal morbidity, and barriers to accessing quality care. Digital health technologies (DHTs) are increasingly promoted as tools to reduce health disparities through access to care. However, the extent to which equity-oriented design approaches have been applied to address the needs of Black communities remains unclear.

Health literacy is crucial for pregnancy outcomes; yet, 15%-44% of pregnant women have low health literacy, negatively affecting maternal and fetal health. While pregnancy apps are increasingly used to support it, the psychological mechanisms through which they influence behavior remain unclear. Understanding these mechanisms is essential for designing effective interventions. Cognitive load theory (CLT) and the integrated model of cognitive-affective learning with media (ICALM) provide theoretical frameworks for understanding these digital interventions in pregnancy’s emotionally intense context.

Digital health interventions can improve access to and outreach of evidence-based support for people living with chronic pain. How best to deliver such interventions remains unclear, however, and although guided or blended care models show promise, digital interventions are primarily delivered without support or follow-up.

Binge eating disorder (BED) is highly prevalent and impairing; yet, the UK national guideline–recommended first-line treatment of guided self-help (ie, supported program-led interventions in which content is delivered by the program with brief support) remains underused in routine National Health Service (NHS) care. Digital delivery offers a scalable approach, but evidence from real-world NHS settings is limited.

Acute respiratory infections caused by influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2 remain a major public health challenge in Europe. Although surveillance systems for these pathogens are well established, the past 2 decades have seen a rapid diversification of data streams supporting surveillance and research. This expanding data landscape, combined with fragmentation across institutions, sectors, and countries, may limit timely evidence synthesis and effective public health decision-making.