Social and Structural Drivers of Health and Transition to Adult Care

Youth with chronic health conditions experience challenges during their transition to adult care. Those with marginalized identities likely experience further disparities in care as they navigate structural barriers throughout transition.

This scoping review aims to identify the social and structural drivers of health (SSDOH) associated with outcomes for youth transitioning to adult care, particularly those who experience structural marginalization, including Black, Indigenous, and 2-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and others youth.

Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were searched from earliest available date to May 2022.

Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts, followed by full-text. Disagreements were resolved by a third reviewer. Primary research studying the association between SSDOH and transition outcomes were included.

SSDOH were subcategorized as social drivers, structural drivers, and demographic characteristics. Transition outcomes were classified into themes. Associations between SSDOH and outcomes were assessed according to their statistical significance and were categorized into significant (P < .05), nonsignificant (P > .05), and unclear significance.

101 studies were included, identifying 12 social drivers (childhood environment, income, education, employment, health literacy, insurance, geographic location, language, immigration, food security, psychosocial stressors, and stigma) and 5 demographic characteristics (race and ethnicity, gender, illness type, illness severity, and comorbidity). No structural drivers were studied. Gender was significantly associated with communication, quality of life, transfer satisfaction, transfer completion, and transfer timing, and race and ethnicity with appointment keeping and transfer completion.

Studies were heterogeneous and a meta-analysis was not possible.

Gender and race and ethnicity are associated with inequities in transition outcomes. Understanding these associations is crucial in informing transition interventions and mitigating health inequities.