The impact of screening for social risks on OBGYN patients and providers: A systematic review of current evidence and key gaps

Background: Increasingly, policymakers and professional organizations support screening for social assets and risks during clinical care. Scant evidence exists on how screening impacts patients, providers, or health systems. Objective: To systematically review published literature for evidence of the clinical utility of screening for social determinants of health in clinical obstetric and gynecologic (OBGYN) care. Search Strategy: We systematically searched Pubmed (March 2022, 5,302 identified) and identified additional articles using hand sorting (searching articles citing key articles (273 identified) and through bibliography review (20 identified)). Selection Criteria: We included all articles that measured a quantitative outcome of systematic social determinants of health (SDOH) screening in an OBGYN clinical setting. Each identified citation was reviewed by two independent reviewers at both the title/abstract and full text stages. Data Collection and Analysis: We identified 19 articles for inclusion and present the results using narrative synthesis. Main Results: The majority of articles reported on SDOH screening during prenatal care (16/19) and the most common SDOH was intimate partner violence (13/19 studies). Overall, patients had favorable attitudes towards SDOH screening (in 8/9 articles measuring attitudes), and referrals were common following positive screening (range 5.3%-63.6%). Only two articles presented data on the effects of SDOH screening on clinicians and none on health systems. Three articles present data on resolution of social needs, with inconsistent results. Conclusions: Limited evidence exists on the benefits of SDOH screening in OBGYN clinical settings. Innovative studies leveraging existing data collection are needed to expand and improve SDOH screening.

Automated summary

This study systematically reviewed the clinical utility of screening for social determinants of health in clinical obstetric and gynecologic care. The findings suggest limited evidence on the benefits of screening in this setting, highlighting the need for innovative research to expand and improve screening practices.