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Protected characteristics reported in pulmonary rehabilitation: a scoping review

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posted on 2024-08-01, 14:46 authored by Holly Drover, Lucy Gardiner, Sally J Singh, Rachael A Evans, Enya Daynes, Mark W Orme

Background:An individual's characteristics are reported to influence access, completion and outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation and may contribute to health inequalities. Many countries have policies to promote equity among individuals’ characteristics, including the UK Equality Act 2010 which lists nine protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation).Objectives:To describe the extent to which UK Equality Act 2010 protected characteristics have been collected and reported in UK studies and audits of pulmonary rehabilitation.Methods:A scoping review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews guidelines was conducted using five databases. UK studies and audits collecting data on pulmonary rehabilitation from 1 October 2010 (date of Equality Act 2010 inception) were eligible. The protected characteristics collected and how they were reported were extracted.Results:Out of 45 included studies and audits (41 studies and four audits), 98% (k=44) reported age. Sex was reported in 40% (k=18), and 20% (k=9) reported gender with only male and female categories. Half (50%, k=2) of audits reported gender with male, female and transgender categories. Race was reported through ethnicity in 2% (k=1) of studies and 75% (k=3) of audits. No studies or audits explicitly reported disability, but all reported measures indicating disease severity (e.g.forced expiratory volume in 1 s % predicted: 67%, k=30). No studies or audits reported marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief or sexual orientation.Conclusions:Protected characteristics are not commonly reported or are inconsistently reported in UK pulmonary rehabilitation studies and audits. Without reporting these characteristics, health inequalities in pulmonary rehabilitation will remain unclear.

Funding

Institutional Strategic Support Fund

Wellcome Trust

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Leicestershire Healthcare Inequalities Improvement PhD Programme - LHIIP

Wellcome Trust

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History

Author affiliation

College of Life Sciences Respiratory Sciences

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

European Respiratory Review

Volume

33

Issue

172

Pagination

230236

Publisher

European Respiratory Society (ERS)

issn

0905-9180

eissn

1600-0617

Copyright date

2024

Available date

2024-08-01

Language

en

Deposited by

Mr Mark Orme

Deposit date

2024-07-18

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