Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study
Clinical Trials Friday, March 16th, 2012Plosone: Vivian Welch1,2*, Mark Petticrew3, Erin Ueffing4, Maria Benkhalti Jandu2, Kevin Brand5, Bharbhoor Dhaliwal2, Elizabeth Kristjansson6, Janet Smylie7,8, George Anthony Wells9,10, Peter Tugwell1,2,11 – March 13, 2012.
Abstract Top
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. Read More
