OBJECTIVES:

Health disparities exist in provision of and access to pharmacy services and medication management. Given a continued need to mitigate disparities in health outcomes, and the expanding body of literature regarding interventions to reduce health disparities, we conducted a systematic review to summarize worldwide pharmacist-led interventions that were designed to reduce health disparities, with the ultimate aim to provide guidance on future research directions to advance health equity.

METHODS:

PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL were searched from inception to Oct/2021. Studies that evaluated pharmacist-delivered interventions aimed at reducing health disparities were included. Pilot or preliminary studies and publications in non-English language were excluded. Study characteristics, clinical areas, targeted patient population, and types of interventions and outcomes were evaluated.

RESULTS:

A total of 152 studies were included, of which 30.3% were randomized controlled trials. The majority of studies (82.9%) conducted in high-income countries targeted cardiometabolic conditions (52.4%). Infectious diseases were commonly managed conditions among studies (61.5%) conducted in middle/low-income countries. Most pharmacist-led interventions were delivered to patients that resided in rural areas (44.1%), followed by patients with low-income (32.9%) and patients of minority races/ethnicities (24.3%). A minimal number of studies (1.3%) reported gender-specific interventions, and no studies reported interventions directed at patients with disabilities. Multidisciplinary team care (71.1%) and medication management (61.2%) were the most prevalent care models reported among the studies. Commonly reported outcome measures included laboratory values (37.5%), medication utilization (27.3%) and medication adherence (17.1%). Only 7.9% and 9.9% of the studies reported humanistic and economic outcomes, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacists have led a variety of clinical interventions targeted toward a diverse range of patient populations, which unveiled pharmacists’ roles in reducing health disparities. Variability exists geographically and in certain groups for whom few interventions have been implemented, highlighting the need for further efforts to achieve equity in healthcare.