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Methodological guidance for incorporating equity when informing rapid-policy and guideline development

Dewidar O 1 , Kawala BA 2 , Antequera A 3 , Tricco AC 4 , Tovey D 5 , Straus S 6 Show all authors , Glover R 7 , Tufte J 8 , Magwood O 9 , Smith M 10 , Ooi CP 11 , Dion A 12 , Goetghebeur M 13 , Reveiz L 14 , Negrini S 15 , Tugwell P 16 , Petkovic J 17 , Welch V 18 , COVID-END Equity Task Force

Affiliations 

  • 1 Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected]
  • 2 Section for Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, Institute of Medicine-Master in Global Health, The Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Box 414, SE-405 Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 3 Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, 08025 Barcelona, Spain
  • 4 Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, 209 Victoria St, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1T8, Canada; Epidemiology Division, Dalla Lana School of Public Health & Institute of Health, Management, and Policy Evaluation, University of Toronto, 27 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada; Queen's Collaboration for Health Care Quality, Joanna Briggs Institute Centre of Excellence, Queen's University, 92 Barrie Street, Room 214, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada
  • 5 Cochrane France, Paris, France
  • 6 Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, 209 Victoria St, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1T8, Canada
  • 7 Department of Health Services Research and Policy, Faculty of Public Health Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
  • 8 Hassanah Consulting, Seattle, WA 98122, USA
  • 9 Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada; Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Thompson Hall, 25 University Private, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 7K4
  • 10 Cochrane Consumer Executive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • 11 Endocrine Unit, Department of Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 12 Centre for Implementation Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6, Canada
  • 13 Unit Methods, Ethics and Participation, INESSS, National Institute for Excellence in Health and Social Services, Montréal, Québec, Canada
  • 14 Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health Department, Incident Management System for the Covid-19 Response. Pan American Health Organization, 525 23rd St, Northwest, WA 20037-2895, USA
  • 15 Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University "La Statale", Milan, Italy; IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
  • 16 Department of Medicine, and School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity, Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • 17 Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada; WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity, Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • 18 Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6M1, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 5Z3, Canada
J Clin Epidemiol, 2022 Oct;150:142-153.
PMID: 35863618 DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2022.07.007

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: We provide guidance for considering equity in rapid reviews through examples of published COVID-19 rapid reviews.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: This guidance was developed based on a series of methodological meetings, review of internationally renowned guidance such as the Cochrane Handbook and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis for equity-focused systematic reviews (PRISMA-Equity) guideline. We identified Exemplar rapid reviews by searching COVID-19 databases and requesting examples from our team.

RESULTS: We proposed the following key steps: 1. involve relevant stakeholders with lived experience in the conduct and design of the review; 2. reflect on equity, inclusion and privilege in team values and composition; 3. develop research question to assess health inequities; 4. conduct searches in relevant disciplinary databases; 5. collect data and critically appraise recruitment, retention and attrition for populations experiencing inequities; 6. analyse evidence on equity; 7. evaluate the applicability of findings to populations experiencing inequities; and 8. adhere to reporting guidelines for communicating review findings. We illustrated these methods through rapid review examples.

CONCLUSION: Implementing this guidance could contribute to improving equity considerations in rapid reviews produced in public health emergencies, and help policymakers better understand the distributional impact of diseases on the population.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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