Cargando…
Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study
INTRODUCTION: Tackling health inequities both within and between countries remains high on the agenda of international organizations including the World Health Organization and local, regional and national governments. Systematic reviews can be a useful tool to assess effects on equity in health sta...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2012
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3302723/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22427804 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031360 |
_version_ | 1782226663566737408 |
---|---|
author | Welch, Vivian Petticrew, Mark Ueffing, Erin Benkhalti Jandu, Maria Brand, Kevin Dhaliwal, Bharbhoor Kristjansson, Elizabeth Smylie, Janet Wells, George Anthony Tugwell, Peter |
author_facet | Welch, Vivian Petticrew, Mark Ueffing, Erin Benkhalti Jandu, Maria Brand, Kevin Dhaliwal, Bharbhoor Kristjansson, Elizabeth Smylie, Janet Wells, George Anthony Tugwell, Peter |
author_sort | Welch, Vivian |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: Tackling health inequities both within and between countries remains high on the agenda of international organizations including the World Health Organization and local, regional and national governments. Systematic reviews can be a useful tool to assess effects on equity in health status because they include studies conducted in a variety of settings and populations. This study aims to describe the extent to which the impacts of health interventions on equity in health status are considered in systematic reviews, describe methods used, and assess the implications of their equity related findings for policy, practice and research. METHODS: We conducted a methodology study of equity assessment in systematic reviews. Two independent reviewers extracted information on the reporting and analysis of impacts of health interventions on equity in health status in a group of 300 systematic reviews collected from all systematic reviews indexed in one month of MEDLINE, using a pre-tested data collection form. Any differences in data extraction were resolved by discussion. RESULTS: Of the 300 systematic reviews, 224 assessed the effectiveness of interventions on health outcomes. Of these 224 reviews, 29 systematic reviews assessed effects on equity in health status using subgroup analysis or targeted analyses of vulnerable populations. Of these, seven conducted subgroup analyses related to health equity which were reported in insufficient detail to judge their credibility. Of these 29 reviews, 18 described implications for policy and practice based on assessment of effects on health equity. CONCLUSION: The quality and completeness of reporting should be enhanced as a priority, because without this policymakers and practitioners will continue lack the evidence base they need to inform decision-making about health inequity. Furthermore, there is a need to develop methods to systematically consider impacts on equity in health status that is currently lacking in systematic reviews. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3302723 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2012 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-33027232012-03-16 Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study Welch, Vivian Petticrew, Mark Ueffing, Erin Benkhalti Jandu, Maria Brand, Kevin Dhaliwal, Bharbhoor Kristjansson, Elizabeth Smylie, Janet Wells, George Anthony Tugwell, Peter PLoS One Research Article INTRODUCTION: Tackling health inequities both within and between countries remains high on the agenda of international organizations including the World Health Organization and local, regional and national governments. Systematic reviews can be a useful tool to assess effects on equity in health status because they include studies conducted in a variety of settings and populations. This study aims to describe the extent to which the impacts of health interventions on equity in health status are considered in systematic reviews, describe methods used, and assess the implications of their equity related findings for policy, practice and research. METHODS: We conducted a methodology study of equity assessment in systematic reviews. Two independent reviewers extracted information on the reporting and analysis of impacts of health interventions on equity in health status in a group of 300 systematic reviews collected from all systematic reviews indexed in one month of MEDLINE, using a pre-tested data collection form. Any differences in data extraction were resolved by discussion. RESULTS: Of the 300 systematic reviews, 224 assessed the effectiveness of interventions on health outcomes. Of these 224 reviews, 29 systematic reviews assessed effects on equity in health status using subgroup analysis or targeted analyses of vulnerable populations. Of these, seven conducted subgroup analyses related to health equity which were reported in insufficient detail to judge their credibility. Of these 29 reviews, 18 described implications for policy and practice based on assessment of effects on health equity. CONCLUSION: The quality and completeness of reporting should be enhanced as a priority, because without this policymakers and practitioners will continue lack the evidence base they need to inform decision-making about health inequity. Furthermore, there is a need to develop methods to systematically consider impacts on equity in health status that is currently lacking in systematic reviews. Public Library of Science 2012-03-13 /pmc/articles/PMC3302723/ /pubmed/22427804 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031360 Text en Welch et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Welch, Vivian Petticrew, Mark Ueffing, Erin Benkhalti Jandu, Maria Brand, Kevin Dhaliwal, Bharbhoor Kristjansson, Elizabeth Smylie, Janet Wells, George Anthony Tugwell, Peter Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study |
title | Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study |
title_full | Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study |
title_fullStr | Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study |
title_full_unstemmed | Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study |
title_short | Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study |
title_sort | does consideration and assessment of effects on health equity affect the conclusions of systematic reviews? a methodology study |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3302723/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22427804 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031360 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT welchvivian doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT petticrewmark doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT ueffingerin doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT benkhaltijandumaria doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT brandkevin doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT dhaliwalbharbhoor doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT kristjanssonelizabeth doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT smyliejanet doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT wellsgeorgeanthony doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy AT tugwellpeter doesconsiderationandassessmentofeffectsonhealthequityaffecttheconclusionsofsystematicreviewsamethodologystudy |