Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39285153›Full record

ReviewJournal of racial and ethnic health disparities2025

A Standard Measure of Structural Racism, Do We Have One? Can We Have One? A Narrative Review of Commonly Used Measures and Domains of Use.

Biplav Babu Tiwari, Carlyncia McDowell, Omar-Shariff Sandy Roberts, Steven Kogan, Zhuo Adam Chen, Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Biplav Babu TiwariDepartment of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4779-4317
Carlyncia McDowellDepartment of Education Administration and Policy, Mary Frances Early College of Education, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
Omar-Shariff Sandy RobertsDepartment of Environment Health Sciences, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
Steven KoganDepartment of Human Development and Family Science, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
Zhuo Adam ChenDepartment of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
Janani Rajbhandari-ThapaDepartment of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA. jrthapa@uga.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-0468-0387

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA lack of a "gold standard" operationalized index to measure structural racism (SR) in the current literature limits the comparison of the evidence available. This study aims to synthesize the measures of SR from the current literature to identify the measures used to date, study the indicators included, and investigate its expanding domain.

methodsA literature search of original quantitative studies in the Google Scholar and PubMed databases for articles dated January 1, 2000-July 31, 2023, was conducted with search terms: ["Institutionalized Racism" OR "Systemic Racism", OR "Structural Racism"] AND "Health" AND "United States." The studies were summarized and extracted based on the type of SR index used, the domains of SR incorporated, and the health outcomes studied.

resultsA total of 74 articles were included in the final review. The historical redlining score, G-statistics, index of concentration, and structural racism index were common quantifiable measures of SR. These indices capture 56 indicators across 11 significant domains to measure SR. Similarly, SR indices are being used mostly to study the impact of SR on cardiovascular diseases and other chronic health conditions, women's and maternal health-related issues, and COVID-19 outcomes.

conclusionMultiple indices have been developed to capture SR, and since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have observed an increased interest in understanding health disparities through the lens of SR. With the rise in evidence on experiences of minority races related to racism, there is a high need for a standard approach to measuring SR.

Indexed as

Healthcare DisparitiesHealth Status DisparitiesRacismSystemic RacismCOVID-19HumansUnited StatesG statisticHistorical redlining scoreIndex of ConcentrationIndex of Concentration at the ExtremeStructural racismStructural Racism Index

Identifiers

PMID39285153

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.