Inflation and health: a global scoping review.

High levels of economic inflation can adversely affect societies and individuals in many ways. Although numerous studies explore the health implications of macroeconomic factors, systematic investigation of the inflation-health nexus has been scarce. We conducted a comprehensive scoping review mapping the literature on inflation and health. From 8923 screened records, 69 empirical studies were analysed. These studies explored a wide range of health-related risk factors (eg, diet, substance use, stress, and violence) and outcomes (eg, life expectancy, mortality, suicidal behaviour, and mental health) linked to inflation, across diverse contexts and timeframes. The findings suggest a predominantly negative effect of inflation on health, with specific socioeconomic groups facing greater risks. Our Review uncovers notable gaps in the literature, particularly in geographical coverage, methodological approaches, and specific health outcomes. Among global socioeconomic and geopolitical shifts, understanding and mitigating the health effects of inflation is of contemporary relevance and merits thorough academic attention.

Considerations of complexity in rating certainty of evidence in systematic reviews: a primer on using the GRADE approach in global health.

Public health interventions and health technologies are commonly described as 'complex', as they involve multiple interacting components and outcomes, and their effects are largely influenced by contextual interactions and system-level processes. Systematic reviewers and guideline developers evaluating the effects of these complex interventions and technologies report difficulties in using existing methods and frameworks, such as the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). As part of a special series of papers on implications of complexity in the WHO guideline development, this paper serves as a primer on how to consider sources of complexity when using the GRADE approach to rate certainty of evidence. Relevant sources of complexity in systematic reviews, health technology assessments and guidelines of public health are outlined and mapped onto the reported difficulties in rating the estimates of the effect of these interventions. Recommendations on how to address these difficulties are further outlined, and the need for an integrated use of GRADE from the beginning of the review or guideline development is emphasised. The content of this paper is informed by the existing GRADE guidance, an ongoing research project on considering sources of complexity when applying the GRADE approach to rate certainty of evidence in systematic reviews and the review authors' own experiences with using GRADE.