Research on subgroups is not research on equity attributes: Evidence from an overview of systematic reviews on vaccination

Ref ID 748
First Author X. Bosch-Capblanch
Journal INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR EQUITY IN HEALTH
Year Of Publishing 2017
URL https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-017-0587-x
Keywords • Vaccination
• Subgroup
• Equity
Problem(s) • Failure to consider equity, different socioeconomic groups or disadvantaged populations
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country Switzerland
Aim To assess how systematic reviews published between 1994 and 2014 have addressed equity issues related to vaccination. Data on equity was extracted following PROGRESS‐plus, which stands for Place of residence; Race/ethnicity, Occupation, Gender, Religion, Education, Socioeconomic status, Social capital, ‘plus’ age, disability and the sexual orientation.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings The 54 included systematic reviews of vaccination published between 1994 and 2014 failed to report on the interventions that will actually reduce inequities and consider how redistribution of health care resources could shrink the gap between the privileged and most vulnerable groups including minorities. The most frequently reported equity attribute was ‘place of residence’ and the least reported equity attributes were sexual orientation and religion. Very few estimates of effects actually measured differences or changes between groups having those attributes and all of them referred to the place of residence. No data was found about reducing equity gaps for vulnerable groups or minorities, or attributes such as sexual orientation, education or specific religious groups.
Number of systematic reviews included 54
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 2003
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description