GRADE Equity Guidelines 3: Health equity considerations in rating the certainty of synthesized evidence

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe a conceptual framework for how to consider health equity in the GRADE (Grading Recommendations Assessment and Development Evidence) guideline development process.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Consensus-based guidance developed by the GRADE working group members and other methodologists.

RESULTS: We developed consensus-based guidance to help address health equity when rating the certainty of synthesized evidence (i.e., quality of evidence). When health inequity is determined to be a concern by stakeholders, we propose five methods for explicitly assessing health equity: 1) Include health equity as an outcome; 2) Consider patient-important outcomes relevant to health equity; 3) Assess differences in the relative effect size of the treatment; 4) Assess differences in baseline risk and the differing impacts on absolute effects; and 5) Assess indirectness of evidence to disadvantaged populations and/or settings.

CONCLUSION: The most important priority for research on health inequity and guidelines is to identify and document examples where health equity has been considered explicitly in guidelines. Although there is a weak scientific evidence base for assessing health equity, this should not discourage the explicit consideration of how guidelines and recommendations affect the most vulnerable members of society.