Economic evaluation of mHealth technologies for clinical decision-making in low and middle income countries: a systematic review protocol (Preprint)

Le résumé fourni par la source

BACKGROUND Mobile Clinical Decision Support Systems (mCDSS) offer evidence-based, point-of-care guidance to healthcare providers, especially in resource-constrained settings. As smartphone penetration grows in low and middle income countries (LMICs), mCDSS have the potential to bridge critical gaps in care delivery. Despite increasing adoption, little is known about their cost and cost-effectiveness, which needed to guide policymaking and healthcare investments in LMICs. OBJECTIVE This systematic review aims to synthesise the economic evaluation evidence on mHealth technologies for clinical decision-making in LMICs. We will summarise evidence, assess quality, explore variation across different intervention types, populations, and settings, identify influencing factors, and discuss research and policy implications while highlighting evidence gaps. METHODS We will conduct a systematic review of both full and partial economic evaluations of mCDSS interventions in LMICs. Comprehensive searches will be conducted across seven databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, EconLit, WHO Global Health Library, CINAHL, and Cochrane, supplemented by grey literature. The search will be conducted for the period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2025. The year 2000 was selected as the cut-off date because mobile technologies were not widely used in healthcare in LMICs before then. Two reviewers will independently screen and extract data and conduct quality assessemnt. We will use the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) alogside other trial- and modelled-specific evaluation tools to assess reporting and methodological quality of the studies. We will synthesise the findings narratively and present them in tabular and graphical formats. RESULTS Results CONCLUSIONS conclusions CLINICALTRIAL PROSPERO 2025 CRD420251062914. Available from https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251062914

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