Abstract
Objective
The objective of this scoping review is to understand what is known in relation to geographical inequalities in COVID-19 mortality.
Introduction:
COVID-19 has occurred against a backdrop of existing social and economic inequalities in health. The impact of the pandemic has been examined across various intersections of health inequalities such as age, gender, ethnicity, and occupation. However, spatial inequalities have been less explored. Therefore, this review aims to identify and synthesise what is known on geographical inequalities in COVID-19 mortality globally.
Inclusion criteria:
Following standard scoping review methodology the inclusion criteria will be guided by Population, Concept, Context (PCC). Population: children and adults (all ages); Concept: Area-level inequalities in COVID-19 mortality; Context: any country, at any level (neighbourhood, town, city, municipality, region). Any published, peer-reviewed study written in English that focuses on all three elements of the PCC inclusion criteria will be included.
Methods
Searches will be conducted in (host sites given in parentheses) Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Science Citation Index (Web of Science) and limited to dates ranging from 1st January 2020 to December 31st 2021. Reference lists of all relevant papers will be searched for additional studies. All titles and abstracts will be screened in Rayyan. Primary studies focusing on COVID-19 mortality rates disaggregated by any measure of area-level deprivation will be selected for full text review. Data relating to study design, population, location, outcomes, and results by deprivation will be extracted using standardised extraction forms. Identified papers meeting the inclusion criteria will be tabulated, synthesised thematically and a narrative constructed to describe the evidence base of geographical inequalities in COVID-19 mortality.