TY - JOUR T1 - Estimating need and coverage for five priority assistive products: a systematic review of global population-based research JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007662 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - e007662 AU - Jamie Danemayer AU - Dorothy Boggs AU - Vinicius Delgado Ramos AU - Emma Smith AU - Ariana Kular AU - William Bhot AU - Felipe Ramos-Barajas AU - Sarah Polack AU - Cathy Holloway Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/7/1/e007662.abstract N2 - Introduction To improve access to assistive products (APs) globally, data must be available to inform evidence-based decision-making, policy development and evaluation, and market-shaping interventions.Methods This systematic review was undertaken to identify studies presenting population-based estimates of need and coverage for five APs (hearing aids, limb prostheses, wheelchairs, glasses and personal digital assistants) grouped by four functional domains (hearing, mobility, vision and cognition).Results Data including 656 AP access indicators were extracted from 207 studies, most of which (n=199, 96%) were cross-sectional, either collecting primary (n=167) or using secondary (n=32) data. There was considerable heterogeneity in assessment approaches used and how AP indicators were reported; over half (n=110) used a combination of clinical and self-reported assessment data. Of 35 studies reporting AP use out of all people with functional difficulty in the corresponding functional domains, the proportions ranged from 4.5% to 47.0% for hearing aids, from 0.9% to 17.6% for mobility devices, and from 0.1% to 86.6% for near and distance glasses. Studies reporting AP need indicators demonstrated >60% unmet need for each of the five APs in most settings.Conclusion Variation in definitions of indicators of AP access have likely led to overestimates/underestimates of need and coverage, particularly, where the relationship between functioning difficulty and the need for an AP is complex. This review demonstrates high unmet need for APs globally, due in part to disparate data across this sector, and emphasises the need to standardise AP data collection and reporting strategies to provide a comparable evidence base to improve access to APs.Data are available in a public, open access repository. All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. The study protocol is currently available at https://at2030.org/estimating-need-and-coverage-for-five-priority-assistive-products/. All data extracted for this review will be publicly available in the AT Data Portal, available at https://at2030.org/at-data-portal/map/ from March 2022. ER -