JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is central to the care of older adults with complex and multidimensional needs, but its delivery in routine practice is often limited by substantial time, workforce, and coordination demands. Digital and intelligent technologies are increasingly being applied to CGA delivery across clinical and community settings; however, evidence on their assessment coverage, technological formats, functional features, and architectural patterns remains fragmented and has not been comprehensively synthesized. 

Objective:

This scoping review aimed to synthesize existing evidence on the assessment domain coverage, technological formats, functional features, and architectural patterns of digital and intelligent technologies used in CGA for older adults., thereby providing a reference for future research and Clinical practice.

Methods:

A systematic retrieval of relevant research was conducted using databases including PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus and the Cochrane Library, The time frame for the retrieval spans from database inception to March 2026. Relevant studies were screened and analyzed systematically.

Results:

A total of 34 studies published between 2008 and 2025 were included. Digital and intelligent CGA tools were used across inpatient, outpatient, home-based, community, and long-term care settings, with 14 studies (41.2%) involving more than one care setting. The most frequently assessed domains were functional status (30, 88.2%), cognition (28, 82.4%), and nutrition and psychological well-being (24, 70.6%). Web-based systems (21, 61.8%) and applications (16, 47.1%) were the main technological formats. The most common functions were electronic data capture and management (34, 100%), rule-driven clinical decision support (33, 97.1%), and automated scoring (30, 88.2%). Technological formats showed different domain-coverage patterns. Web-based systems were mainly used for functional status, cognition, nutrition, and psychological well-being. EHR/EMR/HIS-integrated systems were more concentrated in medication, comorbidities, and pressure injury, whereas audio-video telecommunication systems covered few. Technologies for continuous objective monitoring, performance-based assessment, and specialised interpretation remained less commonly applied. Overall, existing tools mainly digitised scale-based CGA domains and routinely recorded clinical information, relied on rule-based rather than adaptive decision support, and extended assessment across care settings.

Conclusions:

Digital and intelligent CGA shows potential to make multidomain assessment more structured, efficient, and continuous. However, current systems still have incomplete domain coverage, limited integration of emerging technologies, and insufficient evidence on measurement validation, adaptive intelligence, and downstream care implementation. Future research should use more rigorous designs to evaluate effectiveness and develop age-friendly, interoperable, and care pathway–embedded CGA systems that support earlier risk identification, personalised care planning, and continuous health management for older adults.