Systematic review: An approach to identifying health inequalities through case studies

Abstract

Introduction: Health inequalities, among other factors, reflect the wellbeing level of a population. Interventions aimed at eliminating or preventing such inequalities require an understanding of their origins. Objective: To perform a systematic review to identify case studies reporting health inequalities worldwide. Methodology: Case reports, case studies and case series written in English, Spanish and Portuguese reporting health inequalities were included. Databases like Medline and EMBASE, and grey literature sources such as LILACS, OpenGrey, Google, and others were included. Results: Initially, the search produced 1272 articles. 139 articles were selected by their title, while, based on their abstract, 28 articles were chosen for full text reading. Finally, 23 articles were included. Gender difference was the most frequent factor in terms of health inequalities (23.2%), followed by socio economic condition (20%), belonging to a migrant population (13.3%), ethnic origin (13.3%), age (10%), geographic origin (3.3%), and others (16.6%). Discussion: This approach, which is based on reviewing case reports to study health inequalities, contrasts with the majority of the studies carried out in this field. This research proposes to study inequalities specific to population groups that suffer such inequalities within communities in a particular geographic area and are not able to access to optimal health services.

Keywords

• Health Equity
• Healthcare Disparities
• Case reports