Background: Health inequities are systematic, avoidable, and unfair differences in
health between populations or population subgroups. There is increased recognition
of the need for systematic reviews (SRs) to address health inequities, including
drawing out findings relevant to low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). The aim
of ...
Background: Health inequities are systematic, avoidable, and unfair differences in
health between populations or population subgroups. There is increased recognition
of the need for systematic reviews (SRs) to address health inequities, including
drawing out findings relevant to low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). The aim
of this study was to determine the extent to which SRs on risk factors for hearing
loss reported findings associated with health inequities, and the extent to which this
data was captured in the primary studies included within these SRs.
Methods: We identified SRs on risk factors for hearing loss from a report on this
topic which included a systematic search for relevant SRs. SRs thus identified were
inspected for data related to health inequity with reference to PROGRESS‐Plus. We
compared how data were reported in SRs versus within primary studies included in
the SRs, and the extent to which primary studies from LMICs were represented.
Results: We included 17 SRs which reported findings on a variety of physiological,
behavioral, demographic, and environmental risk factors for hearing loss. There were
296 unique primary studies included in the SRs, of which 251 (81.49%) were
successfully retrieved. Data relating to health inequities was reported relatively
infrequently in the SRs and mainly focused on gender and age. Data related to health
inequities was more frequently reported in primary studies. However, several
PROGRESS‐Plus criteria were only reported in a minority of primary studies.
Approximately one‐third of primary studies were from LMICs.
Conclusions: There is scope to improve the reporting of data relating to health
inequities in primary studies on risk factors for hearing loss. However, SR authors
could do more to report health inequities than is currently undertaken, including
drawing out findings relevant to LMICs where data are available.