Table 2.

Summary of study characteristics

Authors	Study design	Country	Study population	Research question	Analytical framework	Findings
Campos-Castillo and Anthony44	Cohort study	USA	10 624 US-wide survey respondents	What are the characteristics of patients who used ICTs to connect with care providers in relation to COVID-19?	Logistic regression	Total of 17% of respondents self-reported using telehealth because of the pandemic. Black respondents were more likely than Whites to report using telehealth because of the pandemic (OR 1.42; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.88).
Campos-Castillo and Laestadius47	Cohort study	USA	10 541 US-wide survey respondents	What are the characteristics of patients posting COVID-19-related messages on social media?	Logistic regression	Respondents who identified as black (OR 1.29; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.64; p=0.03) or Latino (OR 1.66; 95% CI 1.36 to 2.04; p=0.03) had higher odds than respondents who identified as white of reporting that they posted COVID-19 content on social media.
Chunara et al40	Cohort study	USA	140 184 patients	What are the characteristics of patients who use telemedicine?	Descriptive statistics and logistic regression	Black patients nearly half as likely as white patients to access care through telemedicine (OR 0.6 times; 95% CI 0.58 to 0.63).
Eberly et al43	Cohort study	USA	2940 cardiovascular outpatients	What are the characteristics of patients who complete a telemedicine consultation?	Logistic regression	Being female and being non-English speaking were independently associated with less telemedicine use.
Gabbiadini et al46	Cross-sectional	Italy	465 respondents	Whether the use of ICT promoted perceptions of social support (mitigating the psychological effects of lockdown).	Separate multiple and simple regression models	The amount of technology use was a significant predictor of perceived social support (OR 2.40, p<0.02, 99% CI −0.01 to 0.31).
Hughes et al39	Mixed methods	UK	156 high-risk individuals and a further 1217 vulnerable patients over the age of 70	Can medical students (general practitioner trainees) use teleconsultations to assess the needs of patients and support digital access to healthcare?	Descriptive statistical analysis. Thematic analysis of conversation issues arising, no theoretical framework named.	A total of 22% high-risk patients and 44% of vulnerable patients reported connectivity issues. Participants reported who were confident in ordering medication online.
Runfola et al45	Cohort study	Italy	33 bariatric outpatients	What are the characteristics of patients who completed a telemedicine consultation?	Categorical data were compared using the Χ2 test. Continuous variables compared using the Student’s t-test.	57.6%completed the consultation. No significant differences were found between participants and non-participants in terms of age and gender.
Weber et al41	Cohort study	USA	52 585 patients diagnosed with COVID-19	What are the characteristics of patients who access care by telemedicine, ER or office visit?	Descriptive statistics and multinomial regression analysis	White patients had the highest predicted probabilities of using telehealth (46.7%). Black and Hispanic patients over 65 have the lowest predicted probability (11.3%).
Whaley et al42	Cross-sectional	USA	Data from 5.6 to 6.8 million US individuals with employer health insurance between 2018 and 2020	What are the characteristics of patients who use telemedicine?	Logistic regression	Patients living in postcodes with lower income or majority racial/ethnic minority populations had lower rates of adoption of telemedicine; ≥80% racial/ethnic minority postcode: −71.6 per 10 000 (95% CI −87.6 to −55.5); 79%–21% racial/ethnic minority postcode: −15.1 per 10 000 (95% CI −19.8 to −10.4).

ER, emergency room; ICT, information and communication technology.