Research Appraisals
Evidence-based critical appraisals of the latest medical research, systematically evaluated using Oxford CEBM methodology.
Showing 5 appraisals
Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
Application of Telehealth and Artificial Intelligence in Military Health Care: A Promising Combination for the Future
BACKGROUND: Military and peace-support operations increasingly depend on medical capability delivered under difficult circumstances: distance, limited number of specialists, disrupted connectivity, and mass-casualty risk. Consequently, military health care systems operate during missions in uniquely constrained and high-risk environments, ranging from remote bases and naval platforms to active combat zones and humanitarian missions. These mission contexts demand rapid, reliable, and scalable medical solutions that can function despite limited personnel, infrastructure, and connectivity. METHOD: By reviewing existing literature and considering several different programs for military health care using telehealth and artificial intelligence (AI), the key performance indicators are explored to evaluate the synergy of telehealth and AI, following its implementation. RESULTS: Telehealth has become an increasingly important component of modern health care and holds the promise of increasing access to (special) health care without moving the patient but the information. Telehealth also enables continuity of care on missions and has already demonstrated its value in extending medical expertise across distance, while AI is evolving rapidly as a powerful enabler of decision support, automation, and predictive analytics in the medical field. As AI capabilities mature, several medical specialties may benefit, particularly in medical imaging, through faster triage, more consistent interpretation, and better prioritization of scarce specialist time. It also contributes to "decision support "while making proposals based on big data, machine learning and AI (e.g., in a Trauma registry). Telehealth provides the communication backbone that preserves these interactions and enables safe use of AI-enabled support in dispersed operations. CONCLUSIONS: The convergence of telehealth and AI in military health care will lead to a strategic capability with increased efficiency and enhance readiness, resilience, access to medical care, and quality of care for military personnel, including faster and more accurate diagnoses and better patient monitoring. Both technologies (AI and telehealth) are expected to continue to advance and play an even larger role in optimizing health care in the military.
3 Aug 2026
Read appraisal →Journal of medical Internet research
The Next Generation of Wearables Won't Need the Cloud
Wearable health and fitness devices have typically relied on cloud computing to deliver insights. In this News and Perspectives article, JMIR Correspondent Michelle Falci reports on the advances facilitating on-device data processing and the potential of these next generation wearables.
25 July 2026
Read appraisal →Nano letters
Regulating the Nano-Bio Interface: Converging Electrochemical and Photonic Biosensing for Wearable Diagnostics
The development of wearable biosensors has accelerated due to the combination of nanomaterials, integrative electronics, and miniaturized transduction mechanisms, enabling continuous monitoring of physiological and environmental markers. Electrochemical and photonic modalities have been shown to exhibit complementary capabilities in wearable applications, with each offering distinct advantages in sensitivity, selectivity, miniaturization, and power efficiency. Beyond single-modality functionality, the next generation of wearable diagnostics integrates electrochemical and optical transduction within the same platforms. In this short review, we examine the physical and functional demands of such convergence in wearable systems, highlighting model electrochemical systems, such as textile-integrated wound monitoring and hormone sensors, and how optical modalities provide orthogonal observables of interfacial and biochemical conditions. We further explore new emerging device architectures that leverage electrochemical and optical interrogation to generate robust, information-rich data sets, supporting long-term, real-world deployment of wearable diagnostic technologies for personalized healthcare and continuous monitoring applications.
16 July 2026
Read appraisal →Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Advances in Wearable Bioimaging
The development of wearable bioimaging platforms has accelerated in the era of precision medicine, addressing the limitations of conventional, facility-based systems, which can be costly and difficult to access. In this review, we first outline the operating principles of major imaging modalities, with an emphasis on target tissues and factors that contribute to image quality. Next, we survey advances in miniaturizing these modalities into wearable devices, from electrical impedance tomography belts to flexible ultrasound and photoacoustic patches, highlighting materials selection and fabrication strategies that enhance image quality, skin adhesion, and functional integration. Lastly, we discuss outstanding technical and translational challenges that must be addressed to realize the full potential of these platforms, including safety and long-term use. With sustained research and responsible commercialization, these wearable devices could reshape continuous physiological monitoring and enable more proactive, preventive health management.
3 July 2026
Read appraisal →Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
Application of Telemedicine for Mission Support-Importance of a Cost-Benefit Analysis
BACKGROUND: Digital health is more relevant now than ever before, and interventions have a clear potential to improve the quality of care while reducing health care costs. Telemedicine has emerged as a transformative approach to health care delivery, particularly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In mission environments, telemedicine increasingly supports the management of acute injuries, chronic conditions, predeployment screening, and follow-up assessments, often using low-bandwidth store-and-forward modalities. METHOD: By reviewing existing literature and considering several different (heterogeneous) programs for "telemedicine for mission support," the key performance indicators are explored to evaluate telemedicine in missions, following its implementation. Both acute and chronic care use cases, as well as operational, clinical, and technical determinants of feasibility, were considered. RESULTS: This article presents the clinical, operational, and economic benefits of "telemedicine in missions" and the metrics for a comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis or cost-benefit analysis, considering its economic and clinical impacts. CONCLUSIONS: Telemedicine in missions shows considerable differences from other telemedicine applications depending on the actors and the resulting circumstances. Considering the heterogeneity of the metrics provided, even within the field of "telemedicine in missions," the analyses have to be conducted in accordance with the encountered conditions. Nevertheless, a set of metrics can be applied to nearly all use cases across the different applications and actors. A mission-adaptable minimum data set is proposed to support standardized evaluation across diverse operational contexts.
3 July 2026
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