Abstract
Objectives
To revise a sex and gender appraisal tool for systematic reviews (SGAT-SR) and apply
it to Cochrane sepsis reviews.
Study design and setting
The revision process was informed by existing literature on sex, gender, intersectionality,
and feedback from an expert advisory board. We revised the items to consider additional
factors associated with health inequities and appraised sex and gender considerations
using the SGAT-SR-2 and female Participation-to-Prevalence Ratio (PPR) in Cochrane
sepsis reviews.
Results
SGAT-SR-2 consists of 19 questions appraising the review's sections and use of the
terms sex and gender. amongst 71 SRs assessed, 50.7% included at least one tool item,
the most frequent being the number of participants by sex or gender at included study-level
(24/71 reviews). Only four reviews provided disaggregated data for the full set of
included trials, while two considered other equity-related factors. Reviews rarely
appraised possible similarities and differences across sex and gender. In half of
a subset of reviews, female participants were under-represented relative to their
share of the sepsis population (PPR<0.8).
Conclusion
The SGAT-SR-2 tool and the PPR can support the design and appraisal of systematic
reviews to assess sex and gender considerations, address to whom evidence applies,
and determine future research needs.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 08, 2021
Accepted:
November 3,
2021
Received in revised form:
October 8,
2021
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
