Relationship between preterm, low birth weight and early childhood caries: a meta-analysis of the case-control and cross-sectional study.

Xiaolin Zhang,Linan Shi,Ting Li,Caiyun Zhao,Jinhai Jia,Chunnian Li,Hong Shi

doi:10.1042/bsr20200870

Abstract

Early childhood caries (ECC) is one of the most prevalent chronic infectious diseases in children. The effective prevention and treatment are heavy burdens and study hotspots for pediatric dentists. Many studies had investigated the relationship between preterm, low birth weight (LBW) and ECC; however, the results were inconsistent. The present study was conducted with an evidence-based study to figure out the relationship between preterm, LBW and ECC for the first time. After searching the database, case–control and cross-sectional studies relevant to the relationship between preterm, LBW and ECC up to December 2019 were included. The data about odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were extracted and calculated with STATA 14.0 Software. A total of 22 studies were included in this meta-analysis, 9 studies of which did not only explore the relationship between ECC with preterm, but also study the relationship between ECC and LBW, 7 studies of which explored the relationship between preterm and ECC, and 6 studies of which studied the relationship between LBW and ECC. The meta-analysis results showed that the preterm increased the risk of ECC (OR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.36–1.87) significantly. There was no difference between LBW and normal birth weight in the incidence of ECC (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 0.94–1.33). The meta-analysis results of adjustment OR about LBW were similar to the crude OR (OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.71–1.57). This meta-analysis indicated that preterm increased the risk of ECC significantly; however, LBW was not a risk factor for ECC.

Highlights

The definition of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) was proposed by American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) in 1999: the presence of one or more cavitated or non-cavitated lesion, missing or filled tooth/teeth due to caries in any primary tooth in a child of 71 months or younger [1]
The question was whether preterm and low birth weight (LBW) infants compared with the children under normal birth conditions were susceptible to ECC, which was posed in accordance with the Participants, Interference, Control, Outcome, Study Design(PICOS) principle
Nine of these twenty-two studies did explore the relationship between ECC and preterm, and studied the relationship between ECC and LBW, and seven studies explored the relationship between preterm and ECC, and six studies investigated the relationship between LBW and ECC

Summary

Introduction

The definition of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) was proposed by American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) in 1999: the presence of one or more cavitated or non-cavitated lesion, missing or filled tooth/teeth due to caries in any primary tooth in a child of 71 months or younger [1]. ECC is one of the most prevalent chronic infectious diseases in children, especially in the developing countries. According to the Fourth National Oral Health Epidemiology Survey of China, the prevalence of ECC occurred in 5-year-old children reached 71.9% [2], which showed an upward trend. ECC had negative influences on children’s physical and mental development. The most effective measures for preventing ECC were some behavior managements against the etiology and risk factors, such as controlling the intake of sugar-sweetened foods and increasing tooth brush frequencies [3,4]. Whether infants birth condition and maternal health status during pregnancy influenced the caries experience of children were always the study hotspots, and the mechanisms of the relation were still uncertain [5,6]

Methods

Results

Conclusion