Evaluation studies of remote patient monitoring technologies in cancer and cardiovascular disease care frequently report ethically relevant issues, but they rarely engage in deep ethical reflection, according to a scoping review published in Frontiers in Digital Health. The review found that ethical issues were commonly described, yet their treatment often remained descriptive, with normative or critical analysis of their ethical implications much less visible in the reporting.
The review was conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and reported following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The researchers searched MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, and the Philosopher’s Index, complemented by a Google Scholar search for additional peer-reviewed studies. Eligible sources were original evaluation studies of non-fully automated remote patient monitoring that required active patient or caregiver engagement and bidirectional interaction with healthcare providers in cancer and cardiovascular disease care.
To analyze the literature, the team used a protocol-based extraction template that was iteratively refined, applying a mixed deductive–inductive approach and basic qualitative content analysis. This method allowed the researchers to systematically identify and categorize ethical issues across a heterogeneous body of evaluation research.
The analysis grouped ethically relevant issues into four analytical categories: Integrity in Research and Development, Ambivalent Impacts of RPM, Justice and Equity, and Data Privacy and Security. Across these categories, ethically relevant issues were frequently reported, but the review found that their treatment often remained descriptive rather than analytically reflective.
One striking pattern was that explicit references to ethics were largely confined to statements of ethics approval. Such statements, the review notes, provide little insight into the underlying ethical reflection. In other words, studies could satisfy formal ethical requirements without demonstrating substantive engagement with the ethical dimensions of the technologies being evaluated.
The review also identified an emphasis on positive findings in the evaluation studies. At the same time, reflections on the ethical implications for non-beneficiaries remained limited. This suggests that evaluation research may foreground the benefits experienced by some patients while giving less attention to those who may be excluded, disadvantaged, or otherwise affected by the deployment of remote monitoring technologies.
Reporting of data privacy and security measures related to the evaluated digital health tools was often insufficient. Given that remote patient monitoring involves the continuous collection and transmission of sensitive health data, the review’s finding that privacy and security reporting was frequently inadequate points to a significant gap in how these technologies are evaluated and documented.
The authors conclude that ethically relevant issues were evident in the literature, but explicit and systematic reflection on their ethical implications was less visible in the reporting. They suggest that more reflective ethical engagement, supported by interdisciplinary collaboration and shared empirical-ethical guidance, may foster more ethically informed digital health research and practice.
The review addresses a recognized gap in digital health evaluation. As the authors note, considering ethical issues is increasingly recognized as a core component of robust digital health evaluations, yet no agreed-upon standard guides evaluators on how such issues should be systematically identified, examined, and reported. Moreover, the extent to which ethical issues are addressed in digital health evaluation studies remains unclear, as existing reviews have not examined this question in sufficient depth. By mapping how ethical issues are addressed and reported in evaluation research on remote patient monitoring in cancer and cardiovascular disease care, this scoping review provides a foundation for developing more systematic approaches to ethical evaluation in digital health.
Subject of Research: Ethical issues in evaluation studies of remote patient monitoring for cancer and cardiovascular diseases
Article Title: Considering ethical issues in evaluation studies on remote patient monitoring for cancer and cardiovascular diseases: a scoping review
Article References: Wienands, L., Valenta, S., Leppla, L., De Geest, S., Kovács, L., Teynor, A., & Krumme, J. (2026). Considering ethical issues in evaluation studies on remote patient monitoring for cancer and cardiovascular diseases: a scoping review. Frontiers in Digital Health, 8, Article 1905222. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2026.1905222
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.3389/fdgth.2026.1905222
Keywords: remote patient monitoring, digital health, ethics, scoping review, cancer, cardiovascular disease, data privacy, health equity, evaluation studies, PRISMA-ScR, Considering, ethical
News Source: Nathaniel Bowman. (November 5, 2026). Ethics often sidelined in remote patient monitoring studies for cancer and heart disease. Scienmag.
