Table 1.
Study characteristics of included literature.
| First author/publisher (year) | Title | Publication/Study Type | Aim | No. of included systematic reviews or studies | Domains covered (see Appendix 1) | Regional Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umbrella reviews | ||||||
| Gibson (2011) [15] (International) | Housing and health inequalities: A synthesis of systematic reviews of interventions aimed at different pathways linking housing and health | Umbrella review | Identify what types of housing and neighbourhood interventions have been reviewed systematically and how these relate to the different pathways between housing and health; establish what gaps exist in the systematic review evidence base on housing interventions; and consider what existing reviews can tell us about the impact of housing and neighbourhood interventions on health and health inequalities | 5 SRs | Social: housing quality/cost | USA, UK, New Zealand, Europe |
| Cairns (2015) [16] (International) | Go slow: an umbrella review of the effects of 20 mph zones and limits on health and health inequalities | Umbrella review | Examine the effects of 20mph zones and limits on health and health inequalities | 5 SRs | Local physical: infrastructure & transport | UK, USA, Europe |
| Welch (2016) [23] (International) | Interactive social media interventions to promote health equity: an overview of reviews | Umbrella review | Assess the effects of interactive social media interventions on health outcomes, behaviour change and health equity | 11 SRs | Health behaviours | USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Europe |
| Haby (2016) [24] (International) | Agriculture, food, and nutrition interventions that facilitate sustainable food production and impact health: An overview of systematic reviews | Umbrella review | Identify the agriculture, food, and nutrition security interventions that facilitate sustainable food production and have a positive impact on health | 15 SRs | Social and local physical | Developing, mostly developed, and developed countries |
| Cauchi (2016) [25] (International) | Environmental components of childhood obesity prevention interventions: an overview of systematic reviews | Umbrella review | Summarise the evidence reported in systematic reviews on the effectiveness of population-level childhood obesity prevention interventions that have an environmental component | 63 SRs | Local physical, health behaviours | Not reported |
| Anderson (2018) [26] (International) | City-based action to reduce harmful alcohol use: review of reviews | Umbrella review | Investigate the potential impact of city-based action to reduce the harmful use of alcohol amongst adults | 5 SRs | Health behaviours: drugs and alcohol | North America, Nordic countries, Australia, New Zealand |
| Bird (2018) [27] (International) | Built and natural environment planning principles for promoting health: an umbrella review | Umbrella review | Assess relationships between the built and natural environment and health, concentrating on five topic areas: neighbourhood design, housing, food environment, natural and sustainable environment, and transport | 117 SRs | Local environment: built environment, housing, infrastructure, green space; social: housing quality/cost | High- and middle- income countries (Europe, North America, Australasia, and Japan) |
| Craike (2018) [28] (International) | Interventions to improve physical activity among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups: an umbrella review | Umbrella review | Examine the effectiveness of interventions to improve physical activity among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups; the characteristics of effective interventions; and directions for future research | 17 SRs | Physical activity | Not reported |
| Pierron (2018) [29] (International) | Supporting parenting to address social inequalities in health: a synthesis of systematic reviews | Umbrella review | Analyse components and characteristics of effective interventions in parenting support and the extent to which the reviews considered social inequalities in health | 21 SRs | Social | USA, UK, Europe |
| Thomson (2018) [17] (International) | The effects of public health policies on health inequalities in high-income countries: an umbrella review | Umbrella review | Examine the effects of public health policies on health inequalities in high-income welfare states | 29 SRs | Policy and politics | Majority USA, EU-28 members, high income countries |
| Thomson (2019) [30] (International) | The effects of community pharmacy-delivered public health interventions on population health and health inequalities: A review of reviews | Umbrella review | Assess the effectiveness of community pharmacy-delivered public health services and assess how they impact on inequalities in health using PROGRESS-Plus characteristics | 15 SRs | Policy and politics: healthcare system | UK, USA & Puerto Rico, Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Thailand |
| Naik (2019) [18] (International) | Going upstream – an umbrella review of the macroeconomic determinants of health and health inequalities | Umbrella review | Identify the evidence for the health and health inequalities impact of population-level macroeconomic factors, strategies, policies and interventions | 62 SRs | Economic, policy and politics | Majority high and middle-income countries |
| McCartney (2019) [19] (International) | Impact of political economy on population health: a systematic review of reviews | Umbrella review | Understand the extent to which political economy, and important aspects of it, explain differences in health outcomes within and between populations over time | 58 SRs | Policy and politics | Europe, USA, UK, southeast Asia, Canada, Mexico, sub-Saharan Africa, Bangladesh, Peru, Madagascar, |
| Carey (2019) [20] (International) | Personalisation schemes in social care and inequality: review of the evidence and early theorising | Umbrella review | Conduct a systematic review of the evidence of personalisation schemes and their likely effects on inequality | 6 SRs | Policy and politics: health care system | Not reported |
| Macintyre (2020) [21] (International) | Socioeconomic inequalities and the equity impact of population-level interventions for adolescent health: an overview of systematic reviews | Umbrella review | Examine systematic review evidence on the equity impact of population-level interventions intended to improve health, happiness and wellbeing for adolescents | 140 SRs | Health behaviours | Not reported (relevance to UK/Scotland was an inclusion criteria) |
| Garzón-Orjuela (2020) [22] (International) | An overview of reviews on strategies to reduce health inequalities | Umbrella review | Identify and synthesize strategies or interventions that facilitate the reduction of health inequalities | 98 SRs | Economic, social, and policy and politics | Not reported |
| Grey literature reports | ||||||
| Public Health Research Consortium (2008) [31] (International) | Tackling the wider social determinants of health and health inequalities: evidence from systematic reviews | Report | Identify existing systematic reviews and relevant primary studies, and to use these to identify priorities for new systematic reviews and for new primary studies of interventions addressing inequalities in health. | 32 SRs 16 studies | Economic, social, and policy and politics | Developed/OECD countries |
| British Academy for the humanities and social sciences (2014) [32] (National) | "If you could do one thing … ". Nine local actions to reduce health inequalities | Report | Identify where, and how, the social sciences can contribute to reducing health inequalities | N/A | Policy and politics | UK |
| The Scottish Government (2015) [42] (National) | Tackling Inequalities in the Early Years: Key messages from 10 years of the Growing up in Scotland study | Report | Highlight how the study has contributed to the evidence base on children and families in Scotland, on the extent of and how to reduce inequalities in outcomes in the early years. | N/A | Economic, social, policy and politics | Scotland |
| Public Health England and Institute of Health Equity (2015)43(National) | Using the Social Value Act to reduce health inequalities in England through action on the social determinants of health | Report | Explain what social value means, and how and whether it is used | N/A | Policy and politics | England |
| Set out the reasons to act on social value | ||||||
| Provide information, guidance and examples of local action for local public sector commissioners in order to increase social value in their procurement activities | ||||||
| NHS Health Scotland (2015) [44] (National) | Health inequalities: What are they? How do we reduce them? | Report | Promote action to reduce health inequalities | N/A | Policy and politics | Scotland |
| Public Health England (2018) [46] (National) | Which service or policy mechanisms, models or approaches, have been shown to be effective or ineffective at reducing the inequalities that are known to have an impact on childhood obesity? | Report | A briefing document that aimed to summarise best available evidence on the approaches and interventions that may reduce the inequalities that impact on obesity in childhood. | N/A | Policy and politics, health behaviours | England |
| Public Health England (2018) [47] (National) | Which service or policy mechanisms, models or approaches, have been shown to be effective or ineffective at reducing inequalities in access to health and social care services? | Report | A briefing document that aimed to summarise best available evidence on the interventions, models and approaches to reduce inequalities in access to health and social care services. | N/A | Policy and politics | England |
| Public Health England (2018) [48] (National) | Which service or policy mechanisms, models or approaches, have been shown to be effective or ineffective at reducing the inequalities that older people experience? | Report | A briefing document that aimed to summarise best available evidence on service delivery mechanisms, models or approaches that have been shown to be effective or ineffective at reducing the inequalities that older people experience. | N/A | Policy and politics | England |
| Public Health England (2018) [49] (National) | Which service or policy mechanisms, models or approaches, have been shown to be effective at reducing educational inequalities in early years? | Report | A briefing document that aimed to summarise best available evidence on service delivery mechanisms, models or approaches that have been shown to be effective at reducing educational inequalities in early years. | N/A | Policy and politics | England |
| Public Health England (2018) [33] (National) | Which service or policy mechanisms, models or approaches, have been shown to be effective or ineffective at reducing inequalities in employment? | Report | A briefing document that aimed to summarise best available evidence on interventions that have been effective, or ineffective, at reducing equalities in employment. | N/A | Economic: labour market; policy and politics | England |
| Local Government Association (2020) [34] (National) | Social determinants of health and the role of local government | Report | Identify what local government can do to improve health by tackling social determinants of health | N/A | Policy and politics | England |
| Local Government Association (2020) [35] (National) | Public health transformation seven years on. Prevention in neighbourhood, place and system | Report | Local Government Association 2020 public health annual report | N/A | Policy and politics | England |
| Public Health Wales (2020) [36] (National) | Digital technology and health inequalities: a scoping review | Report | Understand and offer advice on how equality can be promoted or risks mitigated in the design and use of digital technologies. | 84 | Policy and politics | Wales |
| Inform a theoretical framework for considering how lack of access, skills and motivation for using digital technologies (digital exclusion) could affect health outcomes. | ||||||
| The Health Foundation (2020) [37] (National) | Using economic development to improve health and reduce health inequalities | Report | Provide a framework for practitioners to consider the interventions available and implement strategies most appropriate to their local situation. | N/A | Economic, policy and politics | UK |
| Institute of Health Equity (2020) [38] (National) | Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On | Report | Explore what has happened to health inequalities and social determinants of health in the decade since the Marmot | N/A | Economic, social, policy and politics | England |
| Review. Provide in-depth analysis of health inequalities in England and assess what has happened in key social determinants of health, positively and negatively, in the last 10 years. | ||||||
| Set out an agenda for the Government and local authorities to take action to reduce health inequalities in England. | ||||||
| Institute of Health Equity (2020) [39] (National) | Coventry – A Marmot City. An evaluation of a city-wide approach to reducing health inequalities | Report | Understand the strategic impact of the Marmot City approach in Coventry and the impact on population outcomes. | N/A | Economic, social, policy and politics | England |
| Inform future developments in Coventry. | ||||||
| Provide information and insight for other areas who are developing system wide and integrated approaches to reducing health inequalities. | ||||||
| Provide evidence and analysis for a broad range of stakeholders in UK and globally including for the Marmot Ten Years on work. | ||||||
| Institute of Health Equity (2021) [40] (National) | Build Back Fairer in Greater Manchester: Health Equity and Dignified Lives | Report | Provide evidence of the health inequality challenges the Greater Manchester City Region will face post-pandemic and to make recommendations to monitor and reduce them. | N/A | Economic, social, policy and politics | England |
| Institute for Public Policy Research North (2021) [41] (National) | Women in the North. Choosing to challenge inequalities. | Report | Challenge thinking to fully understand how different inequalities interact with one another. | N/A | Economic, social, policy and politics | England |
| Public Health England (2021) [73] (National) | Place-based approaches for reducing health inequalities: main report | Report | Create a place-based approach to support local areas in addressing health inequalities by identifying strategic and system-wide action has previously reduced population-wide health inequalities. | N/A | Economic, social, local environment, policy and politics | England |
| Key systematic reviews and primary studies | ||||||
| Eyles (2020) [50] (International) | Food pricing strategies, population diets, and non-communicable disease: a systematic review of simulation studies | Systematic review | Review simulation studies investigating the estimated association between food pricing strategies and changes in food purchases or intakes (consumption) (objective 1); Health and disease outcomes (objective 2), and whether there are any differences in these outcomes by socio-economic group (objective 3). | 32 | Economic; Social: food availability; Health behaviours: diet | OECD countries |
| Brown (2014) [51] (International) | Equity impact of interventions and policies to reduce smoking in youth: systematic review | Systematic review | Assess the impact of individual-level smoking cessation interventions undertaken in Europe since 1995, on socioeconomic inequalities in adult smoking | 38 | Health behaviours: smoking | USA, UK, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Israel, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden |
| Barr (2014) [62] (National) | The impact of NHS resource allocation policy on health inequalities in England 2001–11: longitudinal ecological study | Longitudinal ecological study | Investigate whether the policy of increasing National Health Service funding to a greater extent in deprived areas in England compared with more affluent areas led to a reduction in geographical inequalities in mortality amenable to healthcare. | N/A | Policy and politics: health care system | England |
| Beauchamp (2014) [54] (International) | The effect of obesity prevention interventions according to socioeconomic position: a systematic review | Systematic review | Identify interventions for obesity Systematically review the effectiveness of worprevention that evaluated a change in adiposity according to socioeconomic position (SEP) and to determine the effectiveness of these interventions across different socioeconomic groups. | 14 | Health behaviours: diet and physical activity | USA, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Australia |
| Durand (2014) [55] (International) | Do interventions designed to support shared decision-making reduce health inequalities? A systematic review and meta-analysis | Systematic review and meta-analysis | Evaluate the impact of shared decision-making (SDM) interventions on disadvantaged groups and health inequalities. | 19 | Policy and politics: health care system | USA, Australia, Nicaragua |
| Cairns (2014) [56] (International) | Weighing up the evidence: a systematic review of the effectiveness of workplace interventions to tackle socio-economic inequalities in obesity | Systematic review | Systematically review the effectiveness of workplace interventions in reducing socio-economic inequalities in obesity | 18 | Health behaviours: diet and physical activity | USA, Chile, Brazil, Australia, South Korea, Germany |
| Establish how such interventions are organized, implemented and delivered. | ||||||
| Hillier-Brown (2014) [58] (International) | A systematic review of the effectiveness of individual, community and societal level interventions at reducing socioeconomic inequalities in obesity amongst children | Systematic review | Systematically review studies of the effectiveness of interventions (individual, community and societal) | 23 | Health behaviours: diet and physical activity | USA, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Israel, the Netherlands, Finland, France, Switzerland |
| operating via different approaches (targeted or universal) in reducing socio-economic inequalities in obesity-related | ||||||
| outcomes amongst children. | ||||||
| Brown (2014) [57] (International) | Equity impact of European individual-level smoking cessation interventions to reduce smoking in adults: a systematic review | Systematic review | Assess the equity impact of interventions/policies on smoking. | 29 | Health behaviours: smoking | Europe |
| Harris (2015) [59] (International) | Can community-based peer support promote health literacy and reduce inequalities? A realist review | Realist review | Develop a better understanding of the potential for community-based peer support (CBPS) to promote better health literacy (HL). | 570 | Social | USA, UK |
| McGill (2015) [60] (International) | Are interventions to promote healthy eating equally effective for all? Systematic review of socioeconomic inequalities in impact | Systematic review | Review of interventions to promote healthy eating to identify whether impacts differ by socioeconomic position (SEP). | 36 | Health behaviours: diet | Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, UK |
| Moore (2015) [61] (International) | Socioeconomic gradients in the effects of universal school-based health behaviour interventions: a systematic review of intervention studies | Systematic review | Report a content analysis of discussion of socioeconomic inequality within the rationale for interventions and interpretation of findings within published articles of school-based interventions. | 98 | Health behaviours: diet and physical activity | Europe, North America, Australasia, South America, Asia |
| Crocker-Buque (2016) [52] (International) | Interventions to reduce inequalities in vaccine uptake in children and adolescents aged <19 years: a systematic review | Systematic review | Update a 2009 systematic review on effective interventions to decrease vaccine uptake inequalities considering new technologies applied to vaccination and new vaccine programmes (e.g., human papillomavirus in adolescents). | 41 | Policy and politics: Health care system | USA, UK, Canada, Australia |
| Barr (2017) [63] (National) | Investigating the impact of the English health inequalities strategy: time trend analysis | Time trend analysis | Investigate whether the English health inequalities strategy was associated with a decline in geographical health inequalities, compared with trends before and after the strategy. | N/A | Policy and politics: Public health regulation | England |
| Griffin (2019) [64] (National) | Evaluation of intervention impact on health inequality for resource allocation | Economic evaluation | Demonstrate a method for conducting quantitative inequality impact assessment using available aggregate data. | N/A | Policy and politics: social policies | England |
| Simpson (2021) [53] (International) | Effects of social security policy reforms on mental health and inequalities: A systematic review of observational studies in high-income countries | Systematic review | Provide a synthesis of observational literature on the effects on mental health and inequalities in mental health of social security reforms. | 21 | Wider economic: Welfare system | USA, UK, Canada, South Korea, Chile, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands |