CANN - 55th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions

Background: Health inequities are unfair, unjust and avoidable health differences resulting from intersecting systems of structured inequity such as racism, sexism, ableism, cisheteronormativity and social determinants of health (Arcaya et al., 2015; Braveman, 2014; De Sousa, 2023). The aim of this review was to understand the existing health inequities in stroke care and knowledge gaps to inform practice, research, policy and stroke service provision. Furthermore, we sought to understand how health inequity is conceptualized in the stroke literature. Materials and

Methods: We used a critical integrative review methodology, a novel literature review methodology that combined the integrative review methodology (Whittemore & Knafl, 2005) and intersectionality (Collins, 2019; De Sousa & Varcoe, 2022). We searched MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), CINAHL (Ebsco) and Web of Science Core Collection for primary research articles published up until February 13, 2023. Alerts were set on all databases to identify relevant articles published since February 13. We also searched Theses Canada Portal, DART-Europe E-theses Portal, EthOSnet and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global for grey literature. We performed title/abstract screening and full-text review prior to data extraction and evaluation of methodological quality.

Results: A total of 31376 records have been identified thus far, 15102 were screened, and 921 records (539 full-text articles and 365 conference proceedings) met inclusion criteria. Data extraction and methodological quality evaluation are still ongoing. Preliminary results suggest a lack of integration of intersectionality as a framework in stroke research, which also underpins the theoretical conceptualization of health inequity in the field.