A scoping review establishes need for consensus guidance on reporting health equity in observational studies

Xiaoqin Wang; Omar Dewidar; Anita Rizvi; Jimmy Huang; Payaam Desai; Rebecca Doyle; Elizabeth Ghogomu; Tamara Rader; Stuart G Nicholls; Alba Antequera; Alison Krentel; Beverley Shea; Billie-Jo Hardy; Catherine Chamberlain; Charles S Wiysonge; Cindy Feng; Clara Juando-Prats; Daeria O Lawson; Ekwaro A Obuku; Elizabeth Kristjansson; Erik von Elm; Harry Wang; Holly Ellingwood; Hugh Sharma Waddington; Jacqueline Ramke; Janet Elizabeth Jull; Janet Hatcher-Roberts; Janice Tufte; Julian Little; Lawrence Mbuagbaw; Laura Weeks; Loveline Lum Niba; Luis Gabriel Cuervo; Luke Wolfenden; Mwenya Kasonde; Marc T Avey; Melissa K Sharp; Michael Johnson Mahande; Miriam Nkangu; Olivia Magwood; Peter Craig; Peter Tugwell; Sarah Funnell; Stephen G Noorduyn; Tamara Kredo; Tanya Horsley; Taryn Young; Tomas Pantoja; Zulfiqar Bhutta; Andrea Martel; Vivian A Welch

doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.06.009

A scoping review establishes need for consensus guidance on reporting health equity in observational studies

J Clin Epidemiol. 2023 Aug:160:126-140. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.06.009. Epub 2023 Jun 15.

Authors

Xiaoqin Wang¹, Omar Dewidar², Anita Rizvi³, Jimmy Huang², Payaam Desai², Rebecca Doyle², Elizabeth Ghogomu², Tamara Rader⁴, Stuart G Nicholls⁵, Alba Antequera⁶, Alison Krentel⁷, Beverley Shea⁷, Billie-Jo Hardy⁸, Catherine Chamberlain⁹, Charles S Wiysonge¹⁰, Cindy Feng¹¹, Clara Juando-Prats⁸, Daeria O Lawson¹², Ekwaro A Obuku¹³, Elizabeth Kristjansson³, Erik von Elm¹⁴, Harry Wang¹⁵, Holly Ellingwood¹⁶, Hugh Sharma Waddington¹⁷, Jacqueline Ramke¹⁸, Janet Elizabeth Jull¹⁹, Janet Hatcher-Roberts⁷, Janice Tufte²⁰, Julian Little²¹, Lawrence Mbuagbaw²², Laura Weeks²³, Loveline Lum Niba²⁴, Luis Gabriel Cuervo²⁵, Luke Wolfenden²⁶, Mwenya Kasonde²⁷, Marc T Avey²⁸, Melissa K Sharp²⁹, Michael Johnson Mahande³⁰, Miriam Nkangu²¹, Olivia Magwood³¹, Peter Craig³², Peter Tugwell³³, Sarah Funnell³⁴, Stephen G Noorduyn¹², Tamara Kredo³⁵, Tanya Horsley³⁶, Taryn Young³⁷, Tomas Pantoja³⁸, Zulfiqar Bhutta³⁹, Andrea Martel⁴⁰, Vivian A Welch⁴¹

Affiliations

¹ Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada.
² Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada.
³ School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
⁴ Freelance Health Research Librarian, Ottawa, Canada.
⁵ Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6, Canada.
⁶ International Health Department, ISGlobal, Hospital Clínic - Universitat de Barcelona, 585, 08007 Barcelona, Spain.
⁷ Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
⁸ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S, Canada; Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1T8, Canada.
⁹ Indigenous Health Equity Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010 Victoria, Australia.
¹⁰ Centre for Evidence-based Health Care, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7505, South Africa; Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, 3629, South Africa; HIV and other Infectious Diseases Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Durban 4091, South Africa.
¹¹ Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada.
¹² Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada.
¹³ Africa Centre for Systematic Reviews & Knowledge Translation, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala 7062, Uganda; Department of Global Health Security, Infectious Diseases Institute, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala 7062, Uganda; Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ Cochrane Switzerland, Unisanté Lausanne, Lausanne, CH 1010, Switzerland.
¹⁵ Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada; University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Psychology, Department of Law, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.
¹⁷ Environmental Health Group, Department of Disease Control, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK; London International Development Centre, London, Ontario N5V 4T3, Canada.
¹⁸ International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK; School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
¹⁹ School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
²⁰ Cochrane Consumer, Seattle, WA, USA.
²¹ School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
²² Department of Anesthesia, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada; Biostatistics Unit, Father Sean O'Sullivan Research Centre, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario L8N 4A6, Canada; Centre for Development of Best Practices in Health (CDBPH), Yaoundé Central Hospital, VGC6+C52, Yaoundé, Cameroon; Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7602, South Africa.
²³ CADTH, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5S8, Canada.
²⁴ Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Bamenda, Amphi 340, Bambili, Bamenda, Cameroon.
²⁵ Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), Washington, DC 20037, USA.
²⁶ School of medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
²⁷ Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK.
²⁸ Canadian Council on Animal Care, Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2R3, Canada.
²⁹ Department of General Practice, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin D02 YN77, Ireland.
³⁰ Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Kilimanjaro M8HH+MQ4, Tanzania.
³¹ Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada; Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
³² MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Science Unit, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
³³ Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada; Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
³⁴ Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada; Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
³⁵ Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, 3629, South Africa.
³⁶ Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5N8, Canada.
³⁷ Centre for Evidence-based Health Care, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7505, South Africa.
³⁸ Department of Family Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile.
³⁹ Centre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada; Institute for Global Health and Development, The Aga Khan University, Karachi 74000, Pakistan.
⁴⁰ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S, Canada.
⁴¹ Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 37330072
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.06.009

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the support from the available guidance on reporting of health equity in research for our candidate items and to identify additional items for the Strengthening Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology-Equity extension.

Study design and setting: We conducted a scoping review by searching Embase, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Methodology Register, LILACS, and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information up to January 2022. We also searched reference lists and gray literature for additional resources. We included guidance and assessments (hereafter termed "resources") related to conduct and/or reporting for any type of health research with or about people experiencing health inequity.

Results: We included 34 resources, which supported one or more candidate items or contributed to new items about health equity reporting in observational research. Each candidate item was supported by a median of six (range: 1-15) resources. In addition, 12 resources suggested 13 new items, such as "report the background of investigators".

Conclusion: Existing resources for reporting health equity in observational studies aligned with our interim checklist of candidate items. We also identified additional items that will be considered in the development of a consensus-based and evidence-based guideline for reporting health equity in observational studies.

Keywords: Health equity; Observational studies; Reporting guideline; Reporting item; STROBE_Equity; Scoping review.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Checklist
Consensus
Health Equity*
Humans
MEDLINE
Molecular Epidemiology
Observational Studies as Topic
Research Design

Grants and funding

001/WHO_/World Health Organization/International