Effects of Digital Technology Interventions on Mental Health of Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Identify digital technology interventions designed for older adults and examine their effects on mental health, including cognition, loneliness, depression and anxiety. A systematic search was conducted in seven English databases and four Chinese databases, encompassing the period from inception to 24 June 2025. Meta-analysis was performed by Review Manager 5.4 and Stata 16. The GRADE (Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) system was used to assess the reliability of the evidence. A total of 19 randomised controlled trials involving 1947 older adults were included. The results showed that older adults who received the digital technology intervention had significant improvements in cognitive function (SMD: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.69-1.38, p < 0.001) and significant reductions in depression (SMD: -0.32, 95% CI: -0.51 to 0.14, p < 0.001) and anxiety (SMD: -0.66, 95% CI: -0.90 to -0.43, p < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference in terms of alleviating loneliness (SMD: -0.52, 95% CI: -1.05 to 0.00, p = 0.05) of the older adults. Low-certainty evidence suggests that digital technology interventions may benefit older adults. In the future, more high-quality studies are needed to further verify its effect.