Table 1.
Characteristics of included articles defining digital public health and clarifying digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation in relation to public health (January 2000 to June 2020; N=11).
| Study | Article type | Country or agency of first author | Continent | Definition of digital public health | Description of digitization | Description of digitalization | Description of digital transformation |
| Azzopardi-Muscat and Sørensen [5] and Azzopardi-Muscat et al [23] | Commentary | Malta | Europe | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated directly; it supposes that digitalization extends beyond platforms and mechanisms, through which patients interact with health services, to include health-related smartphone apps, quantified self-measurements of physiological variables, and use of big data drawing on lifestyle data to profoundly alter health outcomes. | An important and influential process that has substantial impact on health systems and will fundamentally alter the future of health. |
| Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health [24] | Report | European Commission | Europe | Not stated | The process of changing information or data into a digital format. It involves creating a digital version (using bits and bytes) of analog or physical sources such as documents, images, sounds, and more. This creates a code, which can subsequently be used in the context of a process, product, or service. In this case, in a health service. | The use of digital technologies in the context of the production and delivery of a product or service. Such digital technologies allow health services to be organized, produced, and delivered in new ways. It could range from the use of computers and electronic health records to home monitoring of patients, electronic medical devices, and computer-aided visualization. | An important and influential process that has substantial impact. It is a complex and multifaceted issue. It indicates that health care services and systems are in a transition in which more health services and processes will be digitalized. It encompasses the instrumented effort to meaningfully introduce new digital information and communication technologies and the corresponding new processes into the health care sector. |
| Fitzpatrick et al [25] | Review | Ireland | Europe | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Implies cultural process of change that appreciates that one size does not fit all settings. |
| Lu [26] | Commentary | United States | North America | Not stated | Changing reports so that their contained information may be available electronically. | Not stated | Not stated |
| Mählmann et al [27] | Commentary | Netherlands | Europe | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | A driver of change in all industries, through which the collection, storage, processing, and analysis of large amounts of heterogeneous data may occur at high speed. |
| Odone et al [28] | Commentary | European Public Health Association | Europe | Digital public health is not a discipline per se but an asset the public health community has to fulfill its aims and mission. The health system goals of quality, accessibility, efficiency, and equity of health care embraced by public health professionals are unaltered by the process of digitalization.a | Not stated | Digitalization is a set of tools or a means to achieve public health aims and not an aim in itself. It should support and enable the implementation of public health principles but not modify them. | Not stated |
| Public Health England [6] | Report | England | Europe | A reimagining of public health using new ways of working, blending established public health wisdom with new digital concepts and tools. It recognizes the rapidly changing context of technology, exploring new models of public health using technology and introducing flexibility and resilience that will allow us to adapt our public health practice and improve outcomes.b | Not stated | Not stated | End-to-end transformation of public health services founded strongly on user needs. It requires the harnessing and creation of novel, nontraditional partnerships across governments, academia, the technology industry, and scientific bodies. Such transformation can leverage multiple skills and resources to help drive efficiency and deliver value for money across public health. |
| Rachadell et al [29] | Report | European Public Health Association | Europe | Not stated | A technical process | The use of digital technologies in the context of production and delivery of a product or service. Such digital technologies allow health services to be organized, produced, and delivered in new ways. | A complex but important and influential process that has a substantial impact on health care. |
| Ricciardi et al [30] | Commentary | Italy | Europe | Not stated | Digitization is a technical process. | The use of digital technologies in the context of the production and delivery of a product or service. Such digital technologies allow health care services to be organized, produced, and delivered in new ways. Digitalization is therefore less of a technical process (like digitization), it is also an organizational and cultural process. | Digital transformation encompasses the instrumented effort to meaningfully introduce new digital information and communication technologies and the corresponding new processes into the health care sector. This process may be influenced by ongoing developments outside the health sector. |
| World Health Organization [4] | Report | World Health Organization | N/Ac | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | A disruptive process that allows for the integration of technologies such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and blockchain, along with interoperability of patient data through health data standards to potentially enhance health outcomes by advancing disease detection and response, health outcomes by improving medical diagnosis, data-based treatment decisions, and self-management of care. |
| World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe [31] | Report | World Health Organization | Europe | Not stated; however, the authors note that there is a need to advocate for stronger links between digital health and public and population health objectives and to align the work of digital partners inside and outside the health sector. | Not stated | Digitalization of health systems encompasses the establishment and ongoing maintenance of certain basic elements of infrastructure, including but not limited to hospital information systems, electronic health records and associated clinical support systems, electronic prescription and dispensing systems, telehealth and telemedicine (the provision of health care from a distance), registers and registries, mobile health, public health surveillance, and information portals for patients and health professionals. | Not stated |
aPredicated on the digital transformation of public health services that is founded on user needs.
bDefinition predicated on the digitalization of public health practices. Digital tools therefore serve to facilitate the already established public health goals and functions in a way that allows the practice to reap the potential benefits of digitalization.
cN/A: not applicable.