Abstract

Research has identified that rurally located persons face health inequities when compared to their urban peers. While health policies and practice frameworks to address the needs of rural people are largely developed on the principles of evidence-based medicine, it is not clear whether this evidence base appropriately considers geographic factors that may impact participant outcomes. The purpose of this project was to examine whether research within leading health and medical journals identified the geographic classification (location) of their participants, thus enabling the original authors and subsequent readers to appropriately consider this factor in the making of policy and practice recommendations. A retrospective analysis of study participants’ geographic identifiers within articles from medical and health journals was carried out in this project. Eleven journals were chosen for evaluation, with 300 consecutive eligible papers from each journal retrospectively reviewed. All 3300 papers were analyzed to determine whether the research participants’ geographic location was identified. This classification was then stratified into varying categories of rural or urban, as appropriate. It was not possible to identify participants’ geographic location in 2193 (66%) of the 3300 reviewed articles. A total of 121 papers (4%) had sole focus on rural residents, with another 95 articles (3%) comparing outcomes between rural and urban locations. Slightly more than a quarter (27%) of the articles either just featured urban participants or made no distinction between rural and urban locations. These findings indicate that insufficient attention is given to the geographic location of participants. This failure means that the outcomes and recommendations of the research base may be invalid for a large section of the world’s population and result in inequities in healthcare services. There is an emerging concern about using this evidence base for developing health guidelines and policy frameworks, as the needs of a substantial proportion of the population may not have been appropriately captured.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.