Vivian Welch|Mark Petticrew|Erin Ueffing|Maria Benkhalti Jandu|Kevin Brand|Bharbhoor Dhaliwal|Elizabeth Kristjansson|Janet Smylie|George Wells|Peter Tugwell
Does Consideration and Assessment of Effects on Health Equity Affect the Conclusions of Systematic Reviews? A Methodology Study
Ottawa Hospital|Institute of Population and Public Health|University of Ottawa|London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine|University of Ottawa|Cochrane|Institute of Population and Public Health|University of Ottawa|University of Ottawa|Institute of Population and Public Health|University of Ottawa|University of Ottawa|St. Michael's Hospital|Public Health Ontario|University of Toronto|University of Ottawa|Ottawa Hospital|Institute of Population and Public Health|University of Ottawa
introduction tackling health inequities within countries remains high agenda international organizations including world health organization local regional national governments systematic reviews useful tool assess effects equity health status include studies conducted variety settings populations study aims describe extent impacts health interventions equity health status considered systematic reviews describe methods used assess implications equity related findings policy practice research methods conducted methodology study equity assessment systematic reviews two independent reviewers extracted information reporting analysis impacts health interventions equity health status group 300 systematic reviews collected systematic reviews indexed one month medline using pretested data collection form differences data extraction resolved discussion results 300 systematic reviews 224 assessed effectiveness interventions health outcomes 224 reviews 29 systematic reviews assessed effects equity health status using subgroup analysis targeted analyses vulnerable populations seven conducted subgroup analyses related health equity reported insufficient detail judge credibility 29 reviews 18 described implications policy practice based assessment effects health equity conclusion quality completeness reporting enhanced priority without policymakers practitioners continue lack evidence base need inform decisionmaking health inequity furthermore need develop methods systematically consider impacts equity health status currently lacking systematic reviews