TY - JOUR
T1 - The Global Prevalence Of Early Childhood Caries
T2 - A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis Using the WHO Diagnostic Criteria
AU - Uribe, Sergio E.
AU - Innes, Nicola
AU - Maldupa, Ilze
N1 - Funding Information:
SU acknowledges financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 857287.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 BSPD, IAPD and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - Aim: To estimate the global prevalence of early childhood caries using the WHO criteria.Design: Systematic review of studies published from 1960 to 2019. Data sources: PubMed, Google Scholar, SciELO, and LILACS. Eligibility criteria were articles using: dmft-WHO diagnostic criteria with calibrated examiners, probability sampling, and sample sizes. Study selection: Two reviewers searched, screened, and extracted information from the selected articles. All pooled analyses were based on random-effects models. The protocol is available on PROSPERO 2014 registration code CRD42014009578.Results: From 472 reports, 214 used WHO criteria and 125 fit the inclusion criteria. Sixty-four reports of 67 countries (published 1992-2019) had adequate data to be summarised in the meta-analysis. They covered 29 countries/59018 children. Global random-effects pooled prevalence was (percentage[95% CI]) 48[43, 53]. The prevalence by continent was Africa: 30[19, 45]; Americas: 48 [42, 54]; Asia: 52[43, 61]; Europe: 43[24, 66]; and Oceania: 82[73, 89]. Differences across countries explain 21.2% of the observed variance.Conclusions: Early childhood caries is a global health problem, affecting almost half of preschool children. Results are reported from 29 of 195 countries. ECC prevalence varied widely, and there was more variance attributable to between-country differences rather than continent or change over time.
AB - Aim: To estimate the global prevalence of early childhood caries using the WHO criteria.Design: Systematic review of studies published from 1960 to 2019. Data sources: PubMed, Google Scholar, SciELO, and LILACS. Eligibility criteria were articles using: dmft-WHO diagnostic criteria with calibrated examiners, probability sampling, and sample sizes. Study selection: Two reviewers searched, screened, and extracted information from the selected articles. All pooled analyses were based on random-effects models. The protocol is available on PROSPERO 2014 registration code CRD42014009578.Results: From 472 reports, 214 used WHO criteria and 125 fit the inclusion criteria. Sixty-four reports of 67 countries (published 1992-2019) had adequate data to be summarised in the meta-analysis. They covered 29 countries/59018 children. Global random-effects pooled prevalence was (percentage[95% CI]) 48[43, 53]. The prevalence by continent was Africa: 30[19, 45]; Americas: 48 [42, 54]; Asia: 52[43, 61]; Europe: 43[24, 66]; and Oceania: 82[73, 89]. Differences across countries explain 21.2% of the observed variance.Conclusions: Early childhood caries is a global health problem, affecting almost half of preschool children. Results are reported from 29 of 195 countries. ECC prevalence varied widely, and there was more variance attributable to between-country differences rather than continent or change over time.
KW - early childhood caries
KW - epidemiology
KW - oral health
KW - preschool children
KW - systematic review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105236145&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ipd.12783
DO - 10.1111/ipd.12783
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33735529
SN - 0960-7439
VL - 31
SP - 817
EP - 830
JO - International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry
JF - International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry
IS - 6
ER -