Digital and AI-Empowered Health Elements: An Integrated Pathway to Advancing Health

Health outcomes arise from complex and evolving interactions among biological, behavioral, social, environmental, and technological influences. The social determinants of health framework have played a central role in establishing the importance of nonmedical drivers of health and continues to inform population health research and policy. As health data ecosystems expand and digital technologies become increasingly embedded in daily life, there is growing interest in approaches that can more explicitly represent dynamic, multidomain interactions shaping health in contemporary societies. In this Analysis, we introduce the concept of Health Elements, a framework that conceptualizes health as an emergent property distinct from complex additive effects arising from the interplay of biological, behavioral, social, environmental, and technological domains. We discuss how recent advances in data science and artificial intelligence create new opportunities to study these interactions, while highlighting the need for conceptual clarity, methodological rigor, and strong governance. We describe how Health Elements differ from and complement existing determinant-based models, outline principles for empirical operationalization, and consider implications for public health, clinical care, and policy. We also examine ethical, equity, and governance considerations relevant to integrated, artificial intelligence-enabled health systems. Finally, we identify key scientific questions to guide future research on when and how Health Elements approaches can advance health understanding and decision-making in an increasingly digital world.