Cited by 304Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and EducationArtificial Intelligence in HealthcareMachine Learning in Healthcare

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 189 of the 190 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 65 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Large Language Models for Chatbot Health Advice Studies: A Systematic Review

Open access

Abstract

Importance: There is much interest in the clinical integration of large language models (LLMs) in health care. Many studies have assessed the ability of LLMs to provide health advice, but the quality of their reporting is uncertain. Objective: To perform a systematic review to examine the reporting variability among peer-reviewed studies evaluating the performance of generative artificial intelligence (AI)–driven chatbots for summarizing evidence and providing health advice to inform the development of the Chatbot Assessment Reporting Tool (CHART). Evidence Review: A search of MEDLINE via Ovid, Embase via Elsevier, and Web of Science from inception to October 27, 2023, was conducted with the help of a health sciences librarian to yield 7752 articles. Two reviewers screened articles by title and abstract followed by full-text review to identify primary studies evaluating the clinical accuracy of generative AI-driven chatbots in providing health advice (chatbot health advice studies). Two reviewers then performed data extraction for 137 eligible studies. Findings: A total of 137 studies were included. Studies examined topics in surgery (55 [40.1%]), medicine (51 [37.2%]), and primary care (13 [9.5%]). Many studies focused on treatment (91 [66.4%]), diagnosis (60 [43.8%]), or disease prevention (29 [21.2%]). Most studies (136 [99.3%]) evaluated inaccessible, closed-source LLMs and did not provide enough information to identify the version of the LLM under evaluation. All studies lacked a sufficient description of LLM characteristics, including temperature, token length, fine-tuning availability, layers, and other details. Most studies (136 [99.3%]) did not describe a prompt engineering phase in their study. The date of LLM querying was reported in 54 (39.4%) studies. Most studies (89 [65.0%]) used subjective means to define the successful performance of the chatbot, while less than one-third addressed the ethical, regulatory, and patient safety implications of the clinical integration of LLMs. Conclusions and Relevance: In this systematic review of 137 chatbot health advice studies, the reporting quality was heterogeneous and may inform the development of the CHART reporting standards. Ethical, regulatory, and patient safety considerations are crucial as interest grows in the clinical integration of LLMs.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This systematic review of 137 chatbot health advice studies found substantial heterogeneity and incomplete reporting of LLM characteristics, prompt engineering, query strategy, and performance evaluation. Most studies evaluated closed-source ChatGPT models and used investigator opinion rather than evidence-based reference standards, with less than one-third addressing ethics, patient safety, or regulation.

Key findings

  • Of 137 CHAS, 135 (98.5%) assessed ChatGPT and 136 (99.3%) evaluated inaccessible/closed-source models; only 1 (0.7%) fully described the LLM version, and 36 (26.3%) described none of the LLM characteristics.
  • Performance evaluation was often subjective: 89 studies (65.0%) used investigators’ opinion without a reference standard, while 21 (15.3%) used clinical practice guideline recommendations; 18 (13.1%) described a standardized evaluation process and 16 (11.7%) reported blinding.
  • Reporting of methods was incomplete: 121 (88.3%) did not describe chatbot selection, 40 (29.2%) did not describe query strategy, 37 (27.0%) did not describe prompt source, 136 (99.3%) did not describe prompt testing/engineering, and 20 (14.6%) used standardized prompts.
  • Ethical, safety, and regulatory implications were addressed by 45 (32.8%) for ethics, 44 (32.1%) for patient safety, and 22 (16.1%) for regulation of LLMs.

Methods

  • Systematic review following PRISMA; protocol prospectively registered on Open Science Framework; searched MEDLINE via Ovid, Embase via Elsevier, and Web of Science on October 27, 2023.
  • Two independent researchers screened titles/abstracts and full texts, with a third resolving disagreements; 7,752 articles reviewed yielded 137 eligible CHAS.
  • Data extracted in Covidence; descriptive statistics and narrative synthesis were used, with no meta-analysis planned due anticipated heterogeneity; quality of evidence was not evaluated due lack of validated risk-of-bias tools for CHAS.

Limitations

  • Stated: reporting in CHAS may change beyond review time due the dynamic nature of the field; much included literature used hypothetical patient cases; there is a paucity of literature detailing ethical and regulatory considerations; future patient-centered prospective research is needed.
  • Stated: quality of evidence was not evaluated because no high-quality validated risk-of-bias tools were available for CHAS.
  • Evident from the text: heterogeneity in study subjects and designs precluded meta-analysis; the review describes reporting practices and cannot establish causal effects of reporting on clinical outcomes.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.57879

Cites

189 of 190 references verified1 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Figures

Figure. Overview of Literature Search There were no ongoing studies or studies awaiting classification. LLM indicates large language model.
Figure. Overview of Literature Search There were no ongoing studies or studies awaiting classification. LLM indicates large language model.CC BY · PubMed Central

Verification

Claims the paper makes

49 Own result · 35 Not checked yet · 7 No basis given · 5 Own method · 4 Own interpretation · 2 Sources not found

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  • It may state two separate claims as one. 9
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Citations

Cites

Show all 184 references

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Wang? Y, Visweswaran? S, Kappor? S, Kooragayalu? S, Wu? X. ChatGPT, enhanced with clinical practice guidelines, is a superior decision support tool. [published online August 13, 2023].? MedRxiv.
  2. Zhou? J, He? X, Sun? L, . SkinGPT-4: an interactive dermatology diagnostic system with visual large language model. Published online April 20, 2023.MedRxiv.

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Metadata

Authors
Huo, B., Boyle, A., Marfo, N., Tangamornsuksan, W., Steen, J. P., McKechnie, T., Lee, Y., Mayol, J., Antoniou, S. A., Thirunavukarasu, A. J., Sanger, S., Ramji, K., & Guyatt, G.
Affiliations
  • McMaster University (CA)
  • H. Ross University School of Medicine, Miramar, Florida
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
  • Papageorgiou General Hospital (GR)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
Corresponding author
Huo, Bright
Venue
JAMA Network Open
Published
2025-02-04
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
e2457879
ISSN
2574-3805 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4407135263
Cited by
283
References
184
Citations by year
2026: 210 · 2025: 73
FWCI
16.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • JAMA Network Open (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Health Informatics › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Machine Learning in Healthcare
Keywords
large language models, chatbots, health advice, reporting quality, generative AI, clinical integration, prompt engineering, patient safety, ethical and regulatory considerations, clinical accuracy
MeSH terms
Large Language Models, Generative Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Humans

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