The Social Determinants of Health (SDH) in Iran: A Systematic Review Article

BACKGROUND Many studies have been conducted in Iran in order to investigate the status of social determinants of health (SDH) and their associations with health indicators. This study aimed to review the Iranian studies conducted on SDH. METHODS A systematic review of all Iranian Persian and English languages articles published between 2005 and 2014 on the SDH was conducted using the search of SID, Iran Medex, Iran Doc, Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. The eligibility criteria were studies describing SDH status, designed based on the WHO conceptual framework of SDH, published in Persian or English languages, and full text articles. The structured narrative approach was used to synthesize the data. RESULTS The entire review process led to the selection of 21 papers. Most of studies had been conducted on the intermediary (38%) and structural (33%) components and determinants in Iran, 4 studies (19%) on the study of all components affecting the health and health inequality and, finally, the minimum number of studies (10%) on the context components and determinants. The focus of 43% of selected studies was on the WHO conceptual framework of SDH and had evaluated this model as an appropriate conceptual framework. CONCLUSION In order to fill the gap in the scientific evidence of SDH and make appropriate policies and plans in Iran, it is needed to conduct studies on all SDH according to the WHO conceptual framework.