Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35521041›Full record

SynthesisBulletin of the World Health Organization2022

Catastrophic health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Paul Eze, Lucky Osaheni Lawani, Ujunwa Justina Agu, Yubraj Acharya

Open access · diamondAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
66citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
20.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

66 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 99 citations in OpenAlex.

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  14. Review
  15. Contribution of Medication Expenditures to Catastrophic Health Expenditures in Iran: An Inequality Analysis.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2026
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6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Paul EzeDepartment of Health Policy and Administration, 504A Donald H. Ford Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, PA 16802, United States of America.
Lucky Osaheni LawaniInstitute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Ujunwa Justina AguDepartment of Community Medicine, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Parklane, Nigeria.
Yubraj AcharyaDepartment of Health Policy and Administration, 504A Donald H. Ford Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, PA 16802, United States of America.
University of Toronto · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the incidence of, and trends in, catastrophic health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: We systematically reviewed the scientific and grey literature to identify population-based studies on catastrophic health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa published between 2000 and 2021. We performed a meta-analysis using two definitions of catastrophic health expenditure: 10% of total household expenditure and 40% of household non-food expenditure. The results of individual studies were pooled by pairwise meta-analysis using the random-effects model. Findings: We identified 111 publications covering a total of 1 040 620 households across 31 sub-Saharan African countries. Overall, the pooled annual incidence of catastrophic health expenditure was 16.5% (95% confidence interval, CI: 12.9-20.4; 50 datapoints; 462 151 households; Conclusion: Although data on catastrophic health expenditure for some countries were sparse, the data available suggest that a non-negligible share of households in sub-Saharan Africa experienced catastrophic expenditure when accessing health-care services. Stronger financial protection measures are needed.

Indexed as

Family CharacteristicsHealth ExpendituresAfrica South of the SaharaCatastrophic IllnessHealth ServicesHumansIncidence

Identifiers

PMID35521041
PMCPMC9047424
OpenAlexW4229046404

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.