Centering racial health equity in systematic reviews paper 5: a methodological overview of methods and interventions

Objectives

We aim to (1) evaluate the methods used in systematic reviews of interventions focused on racialized populations to improve racial health equity and (2) examine the types of interventions evaluated for advancing racial health equity in systematic reviews.

Study Design and Setting

We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane, and Campbell databases for reviews evaluating interventions focused on racialized populations to mitigate racial health inequities, published from January 2020 to January 2023.

Results

We analyzed 157 reviews on racialized populations. Only 22 (14%) reviews addressed racism's role in driving racial health inequities related to the review question. Eleven percent (7) of reviews considered intersectionality when conceptualizing racial inequities. Two-thirds (105, 67%) provided descriptive summaries of included studies rather than synthesizing them. Among those that quantified effect sizes, 54% (21) used biased synthesis methods like vote counting. The most common method assessed was tailoring interventions to meet the needs of racialized populations. Reviews mainly focused on assessing interventions to reduce racial disparities rather than enhancing structural opportunities for racialized populations.

Conclusion

Reviews for racial health equity could be improved by enhancing methodologic quality, defining the role of racism in the question, using reliable analytical methods, and assessing process and implementation outcomes. More focus is needed on assessing structural interventions to improve opportunities for racialized populations and prioritize these issues in political and social agendas.