Emerging health concerns among university students in the United Arab Emirates: A scoping review of mental health, physical inactivity and digital health literacy.

University students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) represent a large, diverse, and understudied population at elevated risk for multiple preventable health conditions. This scoping review, conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and guided by the Arksey and O'Malley (2005) framework, systematically maps and synthesizes the available evidence on three convergent health domains: (1) mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep disturbance; (2) physical inactivity, sedentary behavior, and nutrition-related outcomes; and (3) digital health literacy and the adoption of AI-assisted health tools. A systematic search of six electronic databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Frontiers, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar) for studies published between 2019 and 2026 yielded 28 eligible peer-reviewed studies following title/abstract screening of 836 records. Findings reveal that anxiety affects more than 60% of students in multiple independent samples, that students aged 18–20 carry an odds ratio of approximately 4.93 for depression relative to older peers, and that female and final-year students are disproportionately affected across all mental health dimensions. Objective accelerometry data confirm that UAE university students spend approximately 80% of their waking hours sedentary, with 31.4% of female undergraduates classified as overweight or obese. Despite near-universal internet access, mean eHealth literacy scores are moderate (29.3/40), and 74.7% of students report basing health decisions on social media. Cultural stigma, environmental barriers to physical activity, and the absence of structured digital health education emerge as cross-cutting systemic barriers. The review identifies critical evidence gaps — including the dominance of cross-sectional designs, the underrepresentation of male students, and the absence of validated Arabic-language health literacy instruments — and proposes a coordinated, culturally grounded, multi-level research and policy agenda.