The Impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on Health Outcomes: A Mediating Effect Analysis Based on Cross-National Panel Data

Abstract

When ICTs (Information and Communications Technologies) are combined with healthcare, they can make a key contribution to gradually improve national health outcomes. The global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 further highlighted the important role of e-Health and m-Health service modes. This research structures a mediated effect model to explore dynamic relationships between ICT factors, ICT impacts, and national health outcomes, among which ICT factors are independent variables; ICT impacts are mediating variables, and national health outcome indicators selected from United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and World Development Indicators are dependent variables. The fixed effect model is used to process a set of 141 countries’ panel data from 2012 to 2016 from World Bank and World Economic Forum, while the classical three-step test method and Sobel test combined with fixed effects are used to test the mediated effects of the panel data. The results show that there are significant associations between ICT factors and national health outcome indicators, while only some of the partial mediated effects are proved. ICT environment and ICT usage can influence both the under-five mortality rate and adolescent fertility rate via ICT social impact. However, the mediated effect of ICT social impact on maternal mortality ratio and life expectancy at birth has not been confirmed. Meanwhile, the mediated effect of ICT economic impact has not been proven. This research is an interdisciplinary research in the field of information and communication technology and public health and reveals the path and mechanism whereby ICT factors improve national health outcomes, which can help global policymakers drive the next phase of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and continue to improve the overall health at the national level.