Digital health interventions for cervical cancer care: A systematic review and future research opportunities

Abstract

Background Cervical cancer is a malignancy among women worldwide, which is responsible for innumerable deaths every year. The primary objective of this review study is to offer a comprehensive and synthesized overview of the existing literature concerning digital interventions in cervical cancer care. As such, we aim to uncover prevalent research gaps and highlight prospective avenues for future investigations. Methods This study adopted a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology where a total of 26 articles were reviewed from an initial set of 1110 articles following an inclusion-exclusion criterion. Results The review highlights a deficiency in existing studies that address awareness dissemination, screening facilitation, and treatment provision for cervical cancer. The review also reveals future research opportunities like explore innovative approaches using emerging technologies to enhance awareness campaigns and treatment accessibility, consider diverse study contexts, develop sophisticated machine learning models for screening, incorporate additional features in machine learning research, investigate the impact of treatments across different stages of cervical cancer, and create more user-friendly applications for cervical cancer care. Conclusions The findings of this study can contribute to mitigating the adverse effects of cervical cancer and improving patient outcomes. It also highlights the untapped potential of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which could significantly impact our society.