Sex and Gender Appraisal Tool-Systematic Reviews-2 and Participation-To-Prevalence Ratio assessed to whom the evidence applies in sepsis reviews

A Antequera; E Stallings; R S Henry; J Lopez-Alcalde; V Runnels; S Tudiver; P Tugwell; V Welch

doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.11.006

Sex and Gender Appraisal Tool-Systematic Reviews-2 and Participation-To-Prevalence Ratio assessed to whom the evidence applies in sepsis reviews

J Clin Epidemiol. 2022 Feb:142:119-132. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.11.006. Epub 2021 Nov 8.

Authors

A Antequera¹, E Stallings², R S Henry³, J Lopez-Alcalde⁴, V Runnels⁵, S Tudiver⁶, P Tugwell⁷, V Welch⁸

Affiliations

¹ Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: alba.antequera.martin@gmail.com.
² Clinical Biostatistics Unit, Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria, Madrid, Spain. CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
³ Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
⁴ Clinical Biostatistics Unit, Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria, Madrid, Spain. CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain; Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University Hospital Zurich and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain.
⁵ University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
⁶ Researcher/Consultant - Gender and Health, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
⁷ Department of Medicine, and School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity, Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 34763038
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.11.006

Abstract

Objectives: To revise a sex and gender appraisal tool for systematic reviews (SGAT-SR) and apply it to Cochrane sepsis reviews.

Study design and setting: The revision process was informed by existing literature on sex, gender, intersectionality, and feedback from an expert advisory board. We revised the items to consider additional factors associated with health inequities and appraised sex and gender considerations using the SGAT-SR-2 and female Participation-to-Prevalence Ratio (PPR) in Cochrane sepsis reviews.

Results: SGAT-SR-2 consists of 19 questions appraising the review's sections and use of the terms sex and gender. amongst 71 SRs assessed, 50.7% included at least one tool item, the most frequent being the number of participants by sex or gender at included study-level (24/71 reviews). Only four reviews provided disaggregated data for the full set of included trials, while two considered other equity-related factors. Reviews rarely appraised possible similarities and differences across sex and gender. In half of a subset of reviews, female participants were under-represented relative to their share of the sepsis population (PPR<0.8).

Conclusion: The SGAT-SR-2 tool and the PPR can support the design and appraisal of systematic reviews to assess sex and gender considerations, address to whom evidence applies, and determine future research needs.

Keywords: Equity; Participation-to-prevalence ratio; SGAT-SR-2; Sepsis; Sex- and gender-based analysis; Systematic reviews.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Female
Humans
Male
Prevalence
Publications
Sepsis* / epidemiology
Systematic Reviews as Topic