Connecting the dots on health inequalities--a systematic review on the social determinants of health in Portugal.
Int J Equity Health
; 15: 26, 2016 Feb 16.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26879973
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Health inequalities are recognised as a public health issue worldwide, but only a few countries have developed national strategies to monitor and reduce them. Despite its considerable health inequalities, Portugal seems to lack a systematic strategy to tackle them, possibly due to the absence of organised evidence on the issue. We performed a systematic review that aimed to describe the available evidence on social inequalities in health in Portugal, in order to contribute towards a comprehensive and focused strategy to tackle them.METHODS:
We followed the PRISMA guidelines and searched Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed for studies that looked at the association between a measure of socioeconomic status and a health outcome in the Portuguese resident population since the year 2000. We excluded health behaviours and healthcare use from our search. We performed a qualitative description of the results.RESULTS:
Seventy-one publications were selected, all reporting observational analyses, most of them using cross-sectional data. These publications showed strong evidence for health inequalities related to education and gender, chiefly for obesity, self-rated health and mental health.CONCLUSIONS:
Analysis of the eligible publications showed that current research does not seem to have consistently covered the link between health and key Portuguese social problems. A strategy focusing on the monitoring of most prevalent diseases, most determining socioeconomic factors and vulnerable populations would be crucial to guide academic research in a country in which health inequalities are so ubiquitous and deeply rooted. REGISTRATION This systematic review is not registered.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Salud Pública
/
Determinantes Sociales de la Salud
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Systematic_reviews
Límite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Equity Health
Año:
2016
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Portugal