Digital Determinants of Health: Evaluating the Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Chinese Health Outcomes

Background The new generation of network information technology has become a significant tool to promote public health. The application of information and communication technology (ICT) in the traditional medical industry has changed the medical service model, improved the public medical service system, and provided diversified medical services to the public. Objective This paper discusses the impact of ICT on residents' health, and analyzes the possible heterogeneity impact in different groups and its impact mechanism using the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data and a fixed‐effects model. Methods The ordinary least squares estimation method was adopted to quantitatively identify the impact mechanism of ICT applications on residents' health. Multisource big data were collected, including the CFPS questionnaire (gender, age, marriage status, work status, income level, smoking, sports, and insurance participation), regional economic development, as well as service industry development. The quantitative phase involved conducting in‐depth investigation across 25 Chinese provinces. Then, a quantitative analyse‐based study empirically tested the effects of internet applications on residents' health by matching macro data and micro survey data. After controlling for these identified factors, the data were tested using ordinary least squares and fixed effect models, with the assistance of STATA version 14 to measure and validate the proposed model. Results The regression results support the conclusion that ICT can significantly improve residents' health (p