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Background: COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has become a global pandemic, affecting most countries worldwide. Digital health information technologies can be applied in three aspects, namely digital patients, digital devices, and digital clinics, and could be useful in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic., Objective: Recent reviews have examined the role of digital health in controlling COVID-19 to identify the potential of digital health interventions to fight the disease. However, this study aims to review and analyze the digital technology that is being applied to control the COVID-19 pandemic in the 10 countries with the highest prevalence of the disease., Methods: For this review, the Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched in August 2020 to retrieve publications from December 2019 to March 15, 2020. Furthermore, the Google search engine was used to identify additional applications of digital health for COVID-19 pandemic control., Results: We included 32 papers in this review that reported 37 digital health applications for COVID-19 control. The most common digital health projects to address COVID-19 were telemedicine visits (11/37, 30%). Digital learning packages for informing people about the disease, geographic information systems and quick response code applications for real-time case tracking, and cloud- or mobile-based systems for self-care and patient tracking were in the second rank of digital tool applications (all 7/37, 19%). The projects were deployed in various European countries and in the United States, Australia, and China., Conclusions: Considering the potential of available information technologies worldwide in the 21st century, particularly in developed countries, it appears that more digital health products with a higher level of intelligence capability remain to be applied for the management of pandemics and health-related crises., (©Sharareh R Niakan Kalhori, Kambiz Bahaadinbeigy, Kolsoum Deldar, Marsa Gholamzadeh, Sadrieh Hajesmaeel-Gohari, Seyed Mohammad Ayyoubzadeh. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 10.03.2021.)

Introduction: The epidemic of viral respiratory diseases in the last 20 years has affected many people around the world. In these situations, telemedicine may reduce unnecessary contacts and the risk of exposure to infection. This study aimed to review the papers performed to manage viral respiratory disease epidemics using telemedicine. Material and Methods: The PubMed and Scopus databases were searched in May 2020 for this systematic review study. Data were extracted from the final included papers based on the author, country, type of epidemic, telemedicine modality, telecommunication method, objective, participants, clinical outcome, cost, and satisfaction. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Results: From 365 retrieved papers, 18 papers were included. Most of the papers were done in the US and China (67%). Half of the papers were done during the COVID-19 pandemic. Real-time modality was used in 78% of the papers. The telecommunication method in half of the papers was internetbased. Patients’ management and treatment was the main objective of the six papers. In 81% of the teleconsultation papers, the consultation was performed between patients and healthcare providers. The clinical outcome of all papers showed that telemedicine was successful in the management of viral respiratory disease epidemics. Cost and satisfaction outcomes were considered in a few papers. Conclusion: There is considerable evidence to show that telemedicine is a useful and convenient method to manage and control viral respiratory disease epidemics. Therefore, countries should pay special attention to telemedicine to control the current pandemic and future epidemics and use it extensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Epidemic diseases have always caused considerable physical and financial casualties for governments. By the end of the year 2019, the Covid19 pandemic emerged for the first time in China and rapidly infected the globe. Objectives: As information technology plays a significant role in the current healthcare system, the aim of the present study was to conduct a systematic review to determine the role of electronic health in the Covid19 crisis. Material and Methods: This review was carried out on articles published from December 2019 until March 17th 2020 by searching keywords and their equivalents in "MeSH" in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases and Google search engine. Results: In total, from 72 found articles, 28 were recognized based on their research topic. After imposing inclusion and exclusion criteria, eventually 6 original articles and 8 reports were selected for further analysis. Results showed that reviewed articles had mentioned the effective role of IT in: diagnosing Corona patients, addressing the spread of the disease, providing sufficient education for the public to prevent the disease, and recognizing high-risk areas. Telemedicine, machine learning algorithms, deep learning, Augmented intelligence, neural networks, Global positioning system, and geographical information system have been the most widely used technologies. Conclusion: It was shown that defeating the Covid19 is impossible without the help of technology. Experiences with the effectivity of using electronic health in controlling and monitoring the prevalence of Covid19 can be used to deal with other pandemic diseases in the future as well; and to avoid possible casualties and economic regressions while rapidly providing solutions for similar critical situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Owing to their weak immune system, pregnant and lactating women are vulnerable groups during the outbreak of infectious diseases such as Covid-19, paying more attention to healthy nutrition for this group of people is of great importance. Given the importance of providing healthcare services through smart phones, this technology can be used for any purpose in the field of health. Objective: The aim of this research was to evaluate the nutritional awareness of pregnant and lactating women using social networks during the Covid-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in 2020 on pregnant and lactating women in Fasa and Estahban. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The content validity of the questionnaire confirmed by two medical informatics specialists. The collected data was analyzed by SPSS software (version 22) using descriptive statistics. Results: According to the results of this study, 78.1% of women used WhatsApp social network. Concerning women's knowledge about nutritional information during Covid-19, the highest average (4.53 ± 0.56) was related to "consumption of natural juices and liquids against covid-19" (with an average of 2.78% and average and more), while the lowest average (2.78 ± 1.2) was related to "consumption of fatty food and canned food during covid-19". Conclusion: Results showed that the awareness level of pregnant and lactating women about nutritional information during the Covid-19 pandemic was moderate to high. Healthcare providers can create groups on WhatsApp social network for these women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has become a global pandemic, affecting most countries worldwide. Digital health information technologies can be applied in three aspects, namely digital patients, digital devices, and digital clinics, and could be useful in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.Objective: Recent reviews have examined the role of digital health in controlling COVID-19 to identify the potential of digital health interventions to fight the disease. However, this study aims to review and analyze the digital technology that is being applied to control the COVID-19 pandemic in the 10 countries with the highest prevalence of the disease.Methods: For this review, the Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched in August 2020 to retrieve publications from December 2019 to March 15, 2020. Furthermore, the Google search engine was used to identify additional applications of digital health for COVID-19 pandemic control.Results: We included 32 papers in this review that reported 37 digital health applications for COVID-19 control. The most common digital health projects to address COVID-19 were telemedicine visits (11/37, 30%). Digital learning packages for informing people about the disease, geographic information systems and quick response code applications for real-time case tracking, and cloud- or mobile-based systems for self-care and patient tracking were in the second rank of digital tool applications (all 7/37, 19%). The projects were deployed in various European countries and in the United States, Australia, and China.Conclusions: Considering the potential of available information technologies worldwide in the 21st century, particularly in developed countries, it appears that more digital health products with a higher level of intelligence capability remain to be applied for the management of pandemics and health-related crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]