Table 2 Description of the included studies
From: Social disparities in patient safety in primary care: a systematic review
N | Citation | Location | Outcome of interest | Patient safety domain | Study design | Major findings | Quality of the study |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Maserejian et al. (2009) [22] | USA | Gender disparities in physicians’ diagnosis of coronary heart disease | Diagnostic error | Factorial experiment | Gender: diagnosis of coronary heart disease is significantly dependent on patient’s gender: women are less likely to be diagnosed with coronary heart disease; despite identical symptoms. Ethnicity: not associated with the diagnosis of coronary heart disease. Income: high income women more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis instead of coronary heart disease diagnosis. Education: not studied. | Fair |
2 | Hansen et al. (2008) [12] | DK | Socioeconomic patients characteristics influencing delay in cancer diagnosis | Transition of care/ diagnostic error | Cross-sectional Study | Gender: doctor and system delays: male cancer patients experience longer delays than female cancer patients. Ethnicity: not studied. Income: high income associated with shorter doctor and systems delays and longer patient delays. Education: well educated males and well educated patients in general, experience shorter doctor delays. | Good |
3 | Henning et al. (2013) [16] | AU & IT | Gender differences in referral patterns for bladder cancer | Diagnostic error | Cross-sectional Study | Gender: men are 65% more likely to be referred to a specialist at the first episode of haematuria compared to women. Ethnicity: not studied. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Fair |
4 | Kistler et al. (2010) [18] | USA | Patient characteristics influencing the perceptions of mistakes in ambulatory care | Administrative error | Cross-sectional Study | Gender: gender not associated with perception of mistakes. Ethnicity: no association between ethnicity and perception of mistakes. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Fair |
5 | Maeng et al. (2012) [21] | USA | Perception of care coordination problems | Administrative error | Cross-sectional Study | Gender: not studied. Ethnicity: ethnicity not associated with self-reported care coordination problems. Income: income not associated with self-reported care coordination problem. Education: not studied. | Fair |
6 | McKinlay et al. (2012) [13] | USA | Racial disparities in diabetes mellitus diagnosis | Diagnostic error | Mixed methods: survey, factorial experiment | Gender: not studied. Ethnicity: White patients, with the same symptoms as black patients and Hispanics, underdiagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 2. Income: Undiagnosed signs and symptoms of diabetes mellitus type 2 patterned by income and education. Education: Undiagnosed signs and symptoms of diabetes mellitus type 2 patterned by income and education. | Good |
7 | Eva et al. (2010) [9] | USA | Factors related to physicians’ changing their minds about a diagnosis | Diagnostic error | Factorial experiment | Gender: gender is no significant predictor of change of diagnosis. Ethnicity: ethnicity is no significant predictor of change of diagnosis. Income: income no significant predictor of change of diagnosis. Education: education no significant predictor of change of diagnosis. | Good |
8 | Cooper et al. (2016) [15] | GBR& IRL | Socioeconomic patients’ characteristics influencing potentially inappropriate prescriptions | Medication error | Cross-sectional Study | Gender: women have increased likelihood of potentially inappropriate prescriptions compared to men. Ethnicity: not studied. Income: low income patients have increased risk of potentially inappropriate prescriptions compared to their wealthier counterparts. Education: not studied. | Fair |
9 | Becker et al. (2011) [8] | USA | Racial disparities in opioid risk reduction strategies | Medication error | Retrospective Cohort Study | Gender: not studied. Ethnicity: black patients are more likely to receive opioid risk reduction strategy compared to white patients. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Good |
10 | Ladapo et al. (2014) [19] | USA | Patients’ characteristics influencing physicians’ decision making for cardiac stress testing use | Transition of care | Cross-sectional Study | Gender: women increased likelihood of undergoing or being referred for cardiac testing. Ethnicity: No association between black race and Hispanic ethnicity and lower likelihood of receiving cardiac stress test compared to whites. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Fair |
11 | Lukakcho & Olfson (2012) | USA | Racial difference of depression diagnosis during first primary care visit | Diagnostic error | Cross-sectional study | Gender: not studied. Ethnicity: African American patients more likely to be underdiagnosed with depression during the first GP visit compared to white patients. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Fair |
12 | Hickner et al. (2007) | USA | Predictors of adverse events due to testing errors. | Administrative error | Cross-sectional Study | Gender: not studied. Ethnicity: minority patients have higher odds of experiencing adverse consequences due to testing errors compared to white and non-Hispanic patients. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Fair |
13 | Schröder et al. (2016) [14] | NZL, ESP, SWE, ITA, BEL, DNK, DEU, ISR & GBR | Gender differences in antibiotic prescription | Medication error | Systematic review | Gender: Women are 27% more likely than men to receive antibiotic prescription; The amount of antibiotics prescribed to women is 36% higher than that prescribed to men in the 16–34 years age group and 40% higher in the 35–54 years age group. In particular, the amount of cephalosporins and macrolides prescribed to women is 44 and 32% higher, respectively, than those prescribed to men. Ethnicity: not studied. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Good |
14 | Green et al. (2013) [11] | GBR | Factors associated with prescription of opioids for joint pain | Medication error | Prospective cohort study | Gender: female gender is associated with decreased frequency of opioid prescription. Ethnicity: not studied. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Good |
15 | Fleming-Dutra et al. (2014) [10] | USA | Racial disparities in diagnosis and antibiotic prescription for otitis media | Diagnostic error/ Medication error | Retrospective cohort study | Gender: not studied. Ethnicity: Black children are more likely to receive narrow-spectrum antibiotics for otitis media compared with non-black children who are more likely to receive broad-spectrum antibiotics; black children are 30% less likely than non-black children to be diagnosed with otitis media during ambulatory care visits. Income: not studied. Education: not studied. | Good |