Heterogeneous treatment effects in social policy studies: An assessment of contemporary articles in the health and social sciences

Purpose: Social policies are important determinants of population health but may have varying effects on subgroups of people. Evaluating heterogeneous treatment effects (HTEs) of social policies is critical to determine how social policies will affect health inequities. Methods for evaluating HTEs are not standard-ized. Little is known about how often and by what methods HTEs are assessed in social policy and health research.Methods: A sample of 55 articles from 2019 on the health effects of social policies were evaluated for fre-quency of reporting HTEs; for what subgroupings HTEs were reported; frequency of a priori specification of intent to assess HTEs; and methods used for assessing HTEs.Results: A total of 24 (44%) studies described some form of HTE assessment, including by age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, and/or geography. Among studies assessing HTEs, 63% specified HTE assessment a priori , and most (71%) used descriptive methods such as stratification; 21% used statistical tests (e.g., interaction terms in a regression); and no studies used data-driven algorithms. Conclusions: Although understanding HTEs could enhance policy and practice-based effort s to reduce inequities, it is not routine research practice. Increased evaluation of HTEs across relevant subgroups is needed.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )

Automated summary

Social policies have varying effects on different subgroups of people, and evaluating these heterogeneous treatment effects is crucial for reducing health inequities. There is a lack of standardized methods for assessing these effects in social policy and health research. More research is needed to understand the frequency and methods of evaluating heterogeneous treatment effects.