Trends in Internet Infrastructure Development and Online Health Use in China: 10-Year Descriptive Longitudinal Study

This decade-long observational study demonstrates sustained and significant growth in internet access across China, accompanied by a substantial rise in online health service adoption. A notable V-shaped trajectory in online health use emerged after 2020, indicative of a rapid COVID-19 pandemic-driven acceleration followed by market consolidation. The converging trends of near-universal smartphone-based access and the massive popularity of mobile-centric services, such as short videos, have fundamentally reshaped the digital landscape. Consequently, the findings suggest that for digital health strategies to achieve broad impact, policymakers and health care providers could consider prioritizing the integration of health promotion and services into existing high-penetration mobile platforms and communication formats that the population already uses daily.