eHealth Adoption and its Impact on Life Expectancy : A Comparative Study of Selected BRICS Countries plus TWO

The relationship between eHealth adoption and life expectancy is complex. Research outcomes show different and contradictory results on this relationship. How and why eHealth adoption affect life expectancy is still to a large extent not clear. A causal link between the two is yet to be proven. Without such knowledge, effects of increase or decrease in eHealth adoption on life expectancy may be overestimated or underestimated. This study analyzes the relationship between life expectancy at birth and eHealth adoption in healthcare amongst five selected countries; 3 BRICS countries (China, Russia and South Africa), USA and Ghana, taking into account eHealth foundations, electronic health records, use of health eLearning in health sciences, social media and big data.

This cross-sectional study analyzed WHO Global Survey on eHealth data of five selected countries collected between April and August 2015 by calculating and describing the bivariate correlation between the dependent variable and independent variables. A forward linear regression analysis is also applied to determine the predictive capability of the model.

A significant negative correlation was observed between total health expenditure and eLearning overview, ICT development index rank and internet users and between life expectancy at birth and social media with coefficients of rs = -0.95, p = .014, rs = -1.00, p < .001 and rs = -0.96, p < .001 respectively. Apart from social media indicator of eHealth’s eLearning overview that was significantly correlated with life expectancy at birth, no other correlation was observed between life expectancy at birth and any of the indicators of eHealth. The regression analysis of the predictors show a near perfect result of 100% predictive ability of the model. The study observed that countries that incorporated social media into their eHealth action, through the promotion of health messages on social media as a part of health promotion campaigns, managing patient appointments, sought feedback on services, made general health announcements on social media turn to have citizens that have a significant longer life expectancy. In order to realize high life expectancy of citizens, policy measures have to be directed towards investment in social media incorporation into eHealth strategies.