The objective of the search filters found on this page is to point to research that focuses on issues of social just, disparities, equity, and social determinants of health. Consequently, you will find a broad range of filters covering very specifically health equities & disparities to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, SES, access to health care, and more.
"Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities —this includes the right to good health. Yet today, there are inequities in health that are avoidable, unnecessary and unjust. These inequities are the result of policies and practices that create an unequal distribution of money, power and resources among communities based on race, class, gender, place and other factors. To assure that everyone has the opportunity to attain their highest level of health, we must address the social determinants of health AND equity."
From cms.gov: "...health equity means the attainment of the highest level of health for all people, where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their optimal health regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, preferred language, or other factors that affect access to care and health outcomes."
Healthy People 2030 defines:
Carter-Pokras O, Baquet C. What is a "health disparity"? Public Health Rep. 2002 Sep-Oct;117(5):426-34. doi: 10.1093/phr/117.5.426. PMID: 12500958; PMCID: PMC1497467.
Braveman P. What are health disparities and health equity? We need to be clear. Public Health Rep. 2014 Jan-Feb;129 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):5-8. doi: 10.1177/00333549141291S203. PMID: 24385658; PMCID: PMC3863701.
"Health equity means social justice in health (i.e., no one is denied the possibility to be healthy for belonging to a group that has historically been economically/socially disadvantaged). Health disparities are the metric we use to measure progress toward achieving health equity."
HP 2030: About Disparities Data
Health Equity in Healthy People 2030
From: US Dept. of Health & Human Services
"Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks."
The Cochrane Handbook has an excellent chapter covering equity and specific populations. They describe the PROGRESS-Plus (Place of residence, Race/ethnicity/culture/language, Occupation, Gender/sex, Religion, Education, Socio-economic status, Social capital and other characteristics (‘Plus’) such as sexual orientation, age and disability) framework in:
Welch VA, Petkovic J, Jull J, Hartling L, Klassen T, Kristjansson E, Pardo Pardo J, Petticrew M, Stott DJ, Thomson D, Ueffing E, Williams K, Young C, Tugwell P. Chapter 16: Equity and specific populations. In: Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.4 (updated August 2023). Cochrane, 2023.
See also: O'Neill J, Tabish H, Welch V, et al. Applying an equity lens to interventions: using PROGRESS ensures consideration of socially stratifying factors to illuminate inequities in health. J Clin Epidemiol 2014; 67(1): 56–64. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.08.005. PMID: 24189091
Hanneke R, Brunskill A. Searching for the social determinants of health: observations from evidence synthesis publications. Syst Rev. 2024 May 16;13(1):134. doi: 10.1186/s13643-024-02551-y. PMID: 38755700; PMCID: PMC11097542.
Searching for SDOH requires an approach that is flexible and combines multiple terms and concepts. This page has searches that focus on specific aspects of SDOH but none address all aspects of SDOH. Consider combining the broad SDOH approach (which finds ONLY those articles that specifically mention SDOH) along with specific aspects (access to healthcare, race/ethnicity, etc.) for best retrieval of studies.
Search specifically for those articles in which the authors focus on SDOH.
"Social Determinants of Health"/ or (SDOH or (determinants adj2 health) or (social adj determinants)).ti,ab,kf,kw.
poverty/ or "social class"/ or “social determinants of health”/ or “socioeconomic factors”/ or (((economic or economical or economically) adj2 (distress or distressed or factors)) or ((economically or socially or socioeconomically or stability or stable) adj1 disadvantaged) or income or poverty or ((social or socially or socioeconomic) adj2 (class or determinants or disparities or disparity or inequities or inequity or status))).ti,ab,kf,kw.
This search filter includes a broad range of SDOH terms plus terms specific to disparities, justice, equity, etc. It is a very broad search and finds close to 500,000 items.
Access to primary care/ or "Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation"/ or "Health Disparate, Minority and Vulnerable Populations"/ or Health equity/ or "Health Inequities"/ or health services accessibility/ or "health services needs AND demand"/ or "Health Status Disparities"/ or "Healthcare Disparities"/ or "Medically Underserved Area"/ or "Medicaid"/ or "Medically Uninsured"/ or Poverty/ or Child Poverty/ or Poverty Areas/ or "Right to health"/ or "Social Determinants of Health"/ or Social justice/ or "Socioeconomic Disparities in Health"/ or (SDOH or (determinates adj3 health) or disparities or disparity or inequalities or inequality or inequities or inequity or poverty or (((health adj1 care) or healthcare) adj3 (access or quality)) or Medicaid or (physician adj2 shortage*) or underserved or uninsured or ((group or groups or social or socially or status or statuses) adj1 (disadvantage or disadvantaged or justice or vulnerability or vulnerable))).ti,ab,kf,kw.
(Health disparities or SDOH) + Hispanic/Latinx + cancer + US studies filter (Requires Pitt login)
The "not ((exp africa/ or exp asia/.....))" (Line 8) phrase can be found on the Search Limits page.
These terms focus specifically on the accessibility of health care.
Access to primary care/ or "Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation"/ or health services accessibility/ or "health services needs AND demand"/ or "Healthcare Disparities"/ or "Medically Underserved Area"/ or ((physician* adj2 shortage*) or (((health adj1 care) or healthcare or medical or medically) adj3 (access or accessibility or underserved))).ti,ab,kf,kw.
Access to healthcare + Blacks/African Americans + US studies filter (Requires Pitt login)
The "not ((exp africa/ or exp asia/.....))" (Line 6) phrase can be found on the Search Limits page.