eHealth: A Survey of Architectures, Developments in mHealth, Security Concerns and Solutions

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the development and adoption of eHealth systems.
• Key areas of focus include eHealth architectures, mobile health (mHealth), and system security.
• Existing literature lacks a synthesized overview of recent advancements in these critical eHealth components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive survey of recent innovations in eHealth architectures, mHealth technologies, and security measures.
• To analyze the benefits, drawbacks, and implementation strategies of various eHealth architectural approaches.
• To identify research challenges and future directions in eHealth system development.

Main Methods:

• Review and synthesis of recent literature on eHealth architectures (blockchain, IoT, cloud-based).
• Analysis of key developments in mobile health (mHealth) technologies and eHealth security.
• Discussion of implementation considerations, research challenges, and future research avenues.

Main Results:

• Recent innovations include blockchain-, Internet of Things (IoT)-, and cloud-based eHealth architectures.
• Significant developments in mHealth technologies and eHealth security measures are highlighted.
• The survey provides a snapshot of technologies, their merits, and limitations for eHealth system design.

Conclusions:

• Developing a unified eHealth architecture requires integrating multiple existing designs.
• Further research and investment are crucial to address existing challenges and deploy functional eHealth systems.
• The findings offer valuable insights for researchers and developers during the eHealth system design lifecycle.