Guidelines, position statements, and advisories for the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease in rural populations: A systematic review protocol

INTRODUCTION: Globally, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which include type 2 diabetes (T2D), hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), are associated with a high burden of morbidity and mortality. Health disparities exacerbate the burden of NCDs. Notably, rural, compared with urban, populations face greater disparities in access to preventive care, management, and treatment of NCDs. However, there is sparse information and no known literature synthesis on the inclusion of rural populations in documents (i.e., guidelines, position statements, and advisories) pertaining to the prevention of T2D, hypertension, and CVD. To address this gap, we are conducting a systematic review to assess the inclusion of rural populations in documents on the primary prevention of T2D, hypertension, and CVD. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This protocol follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We searched 19 databases including EMBASE, MEDLINE, and Scopus, from January 2017 through October 2022, on the primary prevention of T2D, hypertension, and CVD. We conducted separate Google(®) searches for each of the 216 World Bank economies. For primary screening, titles and/or abstracts were screened independently by two authors (databases) or one author (Google(®)). Documents meeting selection criteria will undergo full-text review (secondary screening) using predetermined criteria, and data extraction using a standardized form. The definition of rurality varies, and we will report the description provided in each document. We will also describe the social determinants of health (based on the World Health Organization) that may be associated with rurality. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: To our knowledge, this will be the first systematic review on the inclusion of rurality in documents on the primary prevention of T2D, hypertension, and CVD. Ethics approval is not required since we are not using patient-level data. Patients are not involved in the study design or analysis. We will present the results at conferences and in peer-reviewed publication(s). TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD42022369815.