Table 1.
Methodological and theoretical orientations of reviewed articles.
| Study and article title | Article objective | Article conclusions | Therapeutic portal |
| Baldwin et al [19], Patient portals and health apps: Pitfalls, promises, and what one might learn from the other symptoms | Limitations and potential of 2 kinds of patient-facing information technology: portals and applications | Combining features of mHealth apps and portals could increase patient engagement | No |
| Bartonova [20], How can scientists bring research to use: The HENVINET experience | Describes HENVINET, a portal for sharing research findings among scientists, policy makers, and the public | Portal highlights the need for liaison between researchers, policy makers, and the public | Yes |
| Bostrom et al [21], Strategic and integrated planning for healthy, connected cities: Chattanooga case study | Describes a web portal combining location and health data to identify areas for potential greenspace development | Portal determined access to park space. Promotes integrating community and social metrics to equitably address public health challenges | No |
| Bowler et al [22], The visibility of health web portals for teens: A hyperlink analysis | Assesses teen health websites for accessible and reliable health information | Websites had a low level of visibility relative to resources intended for other audiences. Information for teens present on resources that lack health expertise | Yes |
| Ling Cai et al [18], LCE: An open web portal to explore gene expression and clinical associations in lung cancer | Discusses a lung cancer database with expression and clinical data from 6700 patients in 56 studies | The Lung Cancer Explorer is publicly accessible and provides genomic and tissue image data for lung cancer | Yes |
| Christensen et al [23], Beacon: A web portal to high-quality mental health websites for use by health professionals and the public | Describes the Beacon web portal, which aggregates lists of high-quality health websites sharing information on mental health | There are many high-quality web resources available for mental health. The Beacon portal attempts to identify and gather them in a single resource | Yes |
| Das et al [24], The impact of an eHealth portal on health care professionals’ interaction with patients: qualitative study | Discusses implementation of a web portal intended to help weight loss surgery patients achieve healthy outcomes | Implemented eHealth portal was a valuable source of information and a gateway for facilitating positive patient interactions | No |
| Kaiser [16], A new portal for patient data | Presents the Vivli portal, which is intended to support the sharing of anonymized clinical study data | The portal makes available the results of more than 4000 clinical trial data sets from 8 companies and nonprofits | No |
| Kirkpatrick et al [25], GenomeConnect: matchmaking between patients, clinical laboratories and researchers to improve genomic knowledge | Presents the GenomeConnect portal, which provides a space for patients and members of the public to share health history and genetic test results | GenomeConnect portal allows members of the public to participate in genetics research and to contribute to the validation of novel clinical tests | Yes |
| Kohler [26], Can internet access growth help reduce the global burden of noncommunicable diseases? | Describes an open access portal for linking disparate source health information for reducing preventable lifestyle-related risk factors associated with noncommunicable disease | Web portals of the kind described have the potential to improve the global burden of noncommunicable disease if implemented at scale | No |
| Kuijpers et al [27], An interactive portal to empower cancer survivors: a qualitative study on user expectations | Studies the perspectives of cancer survivors on the possible features of an interactive web portal | Participants interested in portal features that fulfill information needs, such as access to their eHealth record | No |
| Li et al [17], Moving data sharing forward: the launch of the Vivli platform | Presents the Vivli portal for supporting anonymized clinical study data sharing | Data sharing portals have an important role to play in addressing issues around reidentification and anonymization | No |
| Maggio et al [28], Qualitative study of physicians’ varied uses of biomedical research in the USA | Perspectives of physicians on interaction with biomedical research presented on a web portal | Physicians reported a high level of research adoption and appealed to their multi-faceted roles as clinicians, educators, and researchers | No |
| Marrie et al [29], Use of eHealth and mHealth technology by persons with multiple sclerosis | Describes use of eHealth and mHealth systems by patients with multiple sclerosis | Internet-enabled tools help to facilitate the sharing of health information between clinicians and patients with multiple sclerosis | No |
| McKemmish et al [30], Consumer empowerment through metadata-based information quality reporting: the breast cancer knowledge web portal | Describes development of the BCK–Web portal, a web resource for sharing health information with patients with breast cancer | BCK–Web portal communicates high-quality medical and experiential knowledge | Yes |
| Melchart et al [31], Introduction of a web portal for an individual health management and observational health data sciences | Establishes a set of core objectives and processes implementing a web portal for lifestyle changes and individual health management | Web tools help to facilitate individual health management in concert with health coaching | No |
| Melholt et al [32], Cardiac patients’ experiences with a telerehabilitation web portal: implications for eHealth literacy | Explores use of a web portal cardiac patient rehabilitation. Outlines health literacy effects | A web portal for rehabilitation among cardiac patients may increase health literacy | No |
| Nordfeldt et al [33], To use or not to use – practitioners’ perceptions of an open web portal for young patients with diabetes | Documents clinician perspectives on the use of an open access web portal for patients with juvenile diabetes | Clinicians felt comfortable recommending web resources for which available information was verifiably reliable | Yes |
| Nordqvist et al [15], Health professionals’ attitudes towards using a web 2.0 Portal for child and adolescent diabetes care: qualitative study | Describes clinician perspectives on the use of a Web 2.0 portal for juvenile patients with diabetes | Clinicians exhibited positive attitudes toward the portal. Support close collaboration between stakeholders in the development of future portals | Yes |
| Rocker [34], Use of a web portal to facilitate clinical trial recruitment: preliminary analysis of fox trial finder | Characterizes research volunteers registered on a web portal for clinical trial participation recruitment for the study of Parkinson’s disease | Persons affected by Parkinson’s disease willing to participate in health research and share personal data on the web | No |
| Sutherland et al [35], A novel open access web portal for integrating mechanistic and toxicogenomic study results | Describes collaborative toxicogeomics, a web portal for sharing best practice methods in computational biology | The developed open-source portal helps to increase accessibility, transparency, and collaboration between researchers in the field | No |
| Tomlinson et al [36], MiMiR – an integrated platform for microarray data sharing, mining and analysis | Presents MiMiR, a web portal supporting the management and sharing of microarray data | MiMiR portal contains more than 150 data points and over 3000 hybridizations supporting the microarray user community | No |