Machine Translation Technology in Health: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Machine Translation (MT) has emerged as a crucial tool in bridging language barriers. In health settings, MT is increasingly relevant due to the diversity of patient populations, the dominance of English in medical research, and the limited availability of human translation services. Improvements in MT accuracy have prompted a re-evaluation of its suitability in contexts where it was once deemed impractical. This scoping review with meta-analysis delved into the appropriateness and limitations of MT in health, including in medical education, literature translation, and patient-provider communication. A keyword search in PubMed, PubMed Central, and IEEE Xplore produced peer-reviewed literature that focused on MT in a health context, published from 2018 to 2023. Analysis and mapping of full-text articles revealed 33 studies among 2,589 returned abstracts, indicating that MT is still unsuitable for direct use in patient interactions, due to clinical risks linked to insufficient accuracy. However, MT was showing promise further away from patients, for translation of medical articles, terminology, and educational content. Further research in improving MT performance in these contexts, coverage of under-studied languages, and study of the existing usages of MT are recommended.