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Addressing health care inequities in Canadian...
Journal article

Addressing health care inequities in Canadian critical care through inclusive science: a pilot tool for standardized data collection

Abstract

PurposeSociodemographic risks contributing to health inequities are often inadequately captured and reported in critical care studies. To address the lack of standardized terms and definitions, we sought to develop a practical and convenient resource of questions and response options for collecting sociodemographic variables for critical care research.SourceTo identify domains and variables that impact health equity, we searched: 1) PubMed for critical care randomized trials (2010 to 2021); 2) high-impact critical care and general medicine journals for special issues relating to equity; and 3) governmental and nongovernmental resources.Principal findingsWe identified 23 domains associated with health equity, including pronouns, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, visible minorities, language, household income, marital/relationship status, education, disabilities, immigrant and refugee status, employment, primary care access, expanded health insurance, internet access, housing security, food security, dependents, religion, and postal code. For each domain we provided standardized questions and response options; for 13/23 domains, we included more than one version of the question and response categories.ConclusionWe developed a standardized, practical, and convenient demographic data collection tool for critical care research studies. Questions and response options can be adapted by researchers for inclusion in individual study questionnaires or case report forms.

Authors

Li Y; Fiest K; Burns KEA; O’Hearn K; Maratta C; Menon K; Rochwerg B; Murthy S; Fowler R; Mehta S

Journal

Journal canadien d'anesthésie, Vol. 70, No. 6, pp. 963–967

Publisher

Springer Nature

Publication Date

June 1, 2023

DOI

10.1007/s12630-023-02450-1

ISSN

0832-610X

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