Background
Health equity: definition and importance
Health equity as a part of health economic evaluations
Methods
Study design
Stage | Description | |
---|---|---|
1. | Identifying the research question | • As a guide to build a research strategy. • Should be wide enough to generate a breadth of coverage. |
2. | Identifying relevant studies | • Via different sources: electronic databases, reference lists, hand-searching of key journals, existing networks, relevant organizations, and conferences. • Make decision about the coverage of the review in terms of time span and language (consider time and budget constraints). |
3. | Study selection | • The criteria for the inclusion/exclusion criteria are device post hoc based on increasing familiarity with the subject matter through reading the studies. • Use an iterative team approach to select the studies and extract the data. |
4. | Charting the data | • The work involves “charting” key items of the information obtained from the primary research reports being reviewed. • A data-charting form is developed and used to extract data from each study. |
5. | Collating, summarizing, and reporting the results | • An analytic framework or thematic construction is used to provide an overview of the breadth of the literature but not a synthesis. • A numerical analysis of the extent and nature of the studies using tables and charts is presented. A thematic analysis is then presented. • Clarity and consistency are required when reporting results. |
6. | Consultation exercise (optional) | • Provides opportunities for consumer and stakeholder involvement to suggest additional references and provide insights beyond those in the literature. |
Stage 1: identifying the research question
Stage 2: identifying relevant studies
- Source of information: Publications that are accessible publicly and through University of Toronto and University Health Network libraries
- Time frame: From inception to May 2019
- Language: Abstracts in English language; full-text in any languages
- Research location: Worldwide
- Study population: Human
- Types of interventions: All types of health interventions (medical devices, drugs, procedures, treatments, public health interventions, etc.)
- Type of economic evaluations: Full economic evaluations (cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, cost-minimization analysis, and cost-benefit analysis)
- Type of methods incorporating equity: Any methods of incorporating health equity in economic evaluations (rate ratios, equity weighting analysis, equity impact analysis, equity trade-off analysis, etc.)
- Type of studies: Both empirical (applied) and methods (concept) studies
- Types of articles: All types of study designs, applied studies, concept discussion papers, reviews, meta-analyses, books, theses and dissertations, gray literature, and general articles (including commentaries or editorial articles)
Stage 3: study selection
Stage 4: charting the data
Main category/subcategories | Description |
---|---|
Article details | |
Author(s) | Who are the author(s)? |
Title | Full title of the article |
Objective(s) | Describe the stated objective(s) |
Year of publication | Article year |
Article type | What is the type of article? |
Language | In which language is the article written? |
Country | In which country was the study conducted? |
Study details (if applicable) | |
Type of study | Empirical or methods? |
Study design | Type of methodology |
Data type | Primary or secondary data |
Study population | Which population was studied? |
Health intervention | |
Name | Name of the intervention(s) |
Type of intervention | What was the type of intervention? (e.g., vaccine, drugs, medical devices, treatment, procedure, and public health) |
Settings | Where did the intervention/study take place? |
Health equity | |
Reasons | Why did the study assess health equity? |
Type of health equity | Which type of health equity was considered? (e.g., horizontal and vertical equity, equal utilization, distribution according to need, equal access, and equal health outcomes) |
Social determinants of health (if applicable) | Which social determinants of health were addressed? |
Other equity measures | Which other equity measures were addressed? (e.g., demographic factors and financial risk protection (FRP)) |
Evaluation method | How was health equity assessed? (e.g., rate ratios, population attributable risks, equity weighting analysis, equity impact analysis, and equity trade-off analysis) |
Tool used | Which tool was used or developed to assess health equity? (e.g., framework and guidelines) |
Health economic evaluations | |
Type of evaluations | Which type of economic evaluation was conducted? |
Evaluation method | How was the economic evaluation conducted? (e.g., administrative data, and clinical trials) |
Tool used | Which tool was used or developed? (e.g., framework and guidelines) |
Incorporating health equity | |
Method development | How does health equity incorporated in the economic evaluations of health interventions? |
New method | What are the new methods proposed? |
Method practicality | Are there any empirical studies that used the method proposed? |
Recommendations | What recommendations did the authors make based on the study results and their experiences? |