Table 2 Criteria for including systematic review articles, in the present umbrella review (modified from protocol)
Study design | Systematic reviews meeting Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) criteria: (i) a defined review question (which includes at least two out of population, intervention, comparison, outcomes or study designs), and with a search strategy of a named database, and (ii) a search strategy including both a named database (at least) and one of the following: reference checking, hand searching, citation searching or contact with authors [22]. |
No restrictions to specific types of primary study designs. Reviews of both interventions and associations were included. | |
Timeframe | No restriction |
Population | Adults and children |
Intervention/exposure | The reviews focused on macro-, population-level economic factors falling into the 7 categories outlined above. |
Post protocol clarification – Studies at the international/ national / regional or municipal level. Studies investigating individual-or neighbourhood level factors were excluded. | |
Comparator | Studies with and without controls |
Outcome | Health and health inequality outcomes. Primary outcomes including but not limited to morbidity, mortality, prevalence and incidence of conditions and life expectancy. Secondary outcomes including health inequalities by gender, ethnicity or socio-economic status (for example by income, education, employment, receipt of benefits at an individual or area level). Cost-effectiveness data was also extracted if available. |
Setting | Any setting—low, middle, high-income countries. |
Year considered | All years since the start of database until the search date (searches run from 3/11/2017 to 11/11/2017) |
Language | English language |
Publication status | Only peer-reviewed published studies |