SynthesisBMC public health2018
The effects of public health policies on health inequalities in high-income countries: an umbrella review.
Synthesis in BMC public health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers, 15 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed, 15 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 249 citations in OpenAlex.
- Unsafe drinking water and human health: A global umbrella review of disease outcomes, intervention effectiveness, and policy implications.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Public health policies and interventions to address health inequities in high-income countries: an umbrella review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of public policy on socioeconomic equity in physical activity: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2026Pooled it
- Assessing the effects of population-level political, economic and social exposures, interventions and policies on inclusive economy outcomes for health equity in high-income countries: a systematic review of reviews.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- A Model of Social Media Effects in Public Health Communication Campaigns: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Non-pharmaceutical primary care interventions to improve mental health in deprived populations: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2023Pooled it
- The potential of food environment policies to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in diets and to improve healthy diets among lower socioeconomic groups: an umbrella review.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- How effects on health equity are assessed in systematic reviews of interventions.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Promoting children's sleep health: Intervention Mapping meets Health in All Policies.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Examining the effectiveness of place-based interventions to improve public health and reduce health inequalities: an umbrella review.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Does socioeconomic position affect knowledge of the risk factors and warning signs of stroke in the WHO European region? A systematic literature review.BMC public health · 2020Pooled it
- Quantitative measures of health policy implementation determinants and outcomes: a systematic review.Implementation science : IS · 2020Pooled it
- Going upstream - an umbrella review of the macroeconomic determinants of health and health inequalities.BMC public health · 2019Pooled it
- An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews on Food Choice and Nutrition Published between 2017 and-2019.Nutrients · 2019Pooled it
- The effect of healthier menu item price reductions in the out-of-home food sector on energy purchased and consumed: a restaurant-based pilot experiment.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- Using After Action Review to Identify Rapid Response Implementation Strategies for Emerging Drugs Among Youth.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2025Trial
- Health-oriented leadership and health equity: the role of NGO support in advancing public health policy and nutritional literacy.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Adapting Global Dietary Recommendation Indices to Assess Retail Food Environment Quality: Spatial Insights from Rural and Urban Kenya.Current developments in nutrition · 2026Article
- Upstream Interventions to Promote Oral Health and Reduce Oral Health Inequalities: A Scoping Review.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2026Article
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSocio-economic inequalities are associated with unequal exposure to social, economic and environmental risk factors, which in turn contribute to health inequalities. Understanding the impact of specific public health policy interventions will help to establish causality in terms of the effects on health inequalities.
methodsSystematic review methodology was used to identify systematic reviews from high-income countries that describe the health equity effects of upstream public health interventions. Twenty databases were searched from their start date until May 2017. The quality of the included articles was determined using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews tool (AMSTAR).
resultsTwenty-nine systematic reviews were identified reporting 150 unique relevant primary studies. The reviews summarised evidence of all types of primary and secondary prevention policies (fiscal, regulation, education, preventative treatment and screening) across seven public health domains (tobacco, alcohol, food and nutrition, reproductive health services, the control of infectious diseases, the environment and workplace regulations). There were no systematic reviews of interventions targeting mental health. Results were mixed across the public health domains; some policy interventions were shown to reduce health inequalities (e.g. food subsidy programmes, immunisations), others have no effect and some interventions appear to increase inequalities (e.g. 20 mph and low emission zones). The quality of the included reviews (and their primary studies) were generally poor and clear gaps in the evidence base have been highlighted.
conclusionsThe review does tentatively suggest interventions that policy makers might use to reduce health inequalities, although whether the programmes are transferable between high-income countries remains unclear.
trial registrationPROSPERO registration number: CRD42016025283.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.