Uses of social determinants of health data to address cardiovascular disease and health equity: A scoping review

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Prior research suggests that social determinants of health have a compounding effect on health and are associated with cardiovascular disease. This scoping review explores what and how social determinants of health data are being used to address cardiovascular disease and improve health equity.

Methods and Results: After removing duplicate citations, the initial search yielded 4110 articles for screening, and 50 studies were identified for data extraction. Most studies relied on similar data sources for social determinants of health, including geocoded electronic health record data, national survey responses, and census data, and largely focused on health care access and quality, and the neighborhood and built environment. Most focused on developing interventions to improve health care access and quality or characterizing neighborhood risk and individual risk.

Conclusions: Given that few interventions addressed economic stability, education access and quality, or community context and social risk, the potential for harnessing social determinants of health data to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease remains unrealized.