Table 6.

Summary of the characteristics of the included studies

Key variables	Subthemes	References
Position	Systematic reviews: communication between clinicians and patients prior to visits, telemedicine, detecting or predicting health deterioration, e-consultation; collection and tracking health-related data, prehospital assistance, symptom checkers, and community workers with health apps	[4, 12, 27–33, 66]
	Primary articles: remote monitoring in primary care, classification and prediction, behavioural health services in primary care, Primary Care-Mental Health Integration, real-time visualization, quantified-self, technology-based objective measures, diagnosis of infectious diseases, digital cryptocurrency and blockchain, referrals through a smartphone app, preventive care, health awareness, self-monitoring and community-based disease surveillance	[3, 34–44]
Integration	Systematic reviews: complimentary monitoring tool, users behaviours and motivations, clinical communication, HIS clients, medical training, prompt medical care under emergencies, telehealth, telemedicine and video conferencing	[4, 9, 12, 23, 27, 29, 45, 46, 48]
	Primary articles: integration of behavioural health, collaborative team building, remote monitoring and communication, reporting to the dispensary for laboratory diagnosis, Fracture Liaison Service Model of Care, remotely sent data to the hospital, data is embedded on web-based TDS platform, RPM involves patients/caregivers in their care, tablets transmit data to a remote secure cloud, and alert activated when symptoms are reported	[20, 35, 39, 40, 50–55]
Versatility	Systematic reviews: CVD include hypertension (HTN), coronary artery disease, and congestive heart failure, fall detection, chronic lung diseases (CLDs) include asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), brain and neurological disorders, mental health, diabetes, cancer, burn injuries, cognitive rehabilitation, HIV, multiple sclerosis, PD, physical activity, psychotherapy, cardiac, epilepsy, dementia, or paralysis disease, perinatal depression, high-risk pregnancy, foetal and pediatric cardiology, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy termination, and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder	[4, 10, 23, 29, 61]
	Primary articles: triage (vital signs and features), multiple sclerosis, low back pain, and osteoporosis, COPD, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and bipolar affective disorder (BAD), Heart disease and HIV/AIDS and TB	[3, 18, 36, 41–43, 58, 64]
Accessibility	Systematic reviews: telehealth, telemedicine, video conferencing and home online Health Consultation	[4, 12, 23, 27]
	Primary articles: positive evaluation of the app, incentives for use (additional functionality) and unlimited access to the system	[38, 41, 43]
Main purpose	Systematic reviews: early detection and the management of chronic conditions, accessed from any web enabled smartphone, e-consultation and AI diagnosis	[2, 11, 12, 48, 66]
	Primary articles: improving the effectiveness and efficiency of prevention and prediction	[3]
Design approach	Systematic reviews: consultation sessions, training, and follow up phone calls (during deployment)	[9]
	Primary articles: doctors and nurses participated in each stage of its design and prototyping, Patient representative on the research team, patient acceptability before and after design, user centred design and feedback from the clinical collaborators and the patients in design	[20, 44, 56, 60, 64]