Global prevalence of dental caries in athletes with intellectual disabilities: An epidemiological systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Aims This study aimed to perform an epidemiological systematic review and meta‐analysis to estimate the global prevalence of dental caries in athletes with intellectual disabilities. Methods and results This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42017068127). A systematic and extensive search was conducted in the Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Virtual Health Library (Lilacs) databases, and Grey literature from inception up to April 2017. The MeSH terms “Sports,” Athletes,” and “Dental Caries” were used. The inclusion criteria used were observational cross‐sectional studies, longitudinal retrospective and prospective studies that present the prevalence of dental caries in athletes with intellectual disabilities. After the selection process, the risk of bias was assessed and a meta‐analysis was conducted. Sixteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, eight studies were considered to have a moderate risk of bias, and eight were considered to have high risk of bias. The global prevalence of dental caries was 36.5% (95% CI = 30.6 to 42.7) with high heterogeneity between studies. Conclusion Dental caries is a significant global health problem in athletes with intellectual disabilities worldwide. There is a great need for increased oral health promotion, education, and prevention as a way to reduce this condition in this population.

Dental caries experience and related risk indicators of 12-year-old students in Jilin, China

“…[ 37 ] Various factors, including socio-economic factors, sample size, dietary behaviors, brushing habits, and cultural differences, can lead to different results. [ 2 , 3 , 8 , 14 , 15 , 24 , 25 ] Thus, it is necessary to carefully and reasonably interpret each result. We speculate that the high incidence of DC in Jilin Province may be attributed to the following 2 factors:…”

Understanding and tackling oral health inequalities in vulnerable adult populations: from the margins to the mainstream

“…23 Several studies have also shown that people with ID were less likely to have received dental treatment and when they did they were more likely to have had teeth extracted rather than restored. 23,24 This was particularly the case for people with ID resident in institutional settings or who were unable to tolerate and co-operate with dental treatment. 23,24 Similarly, people with severe mental illness have been shown to have significantly higher levels of tooth decay, and are more likely to become edentulous when compared to the general population.…”

“…23,24 This was particularly the case for people with ID resident in institutional settings or who were unable to tolerate and co-operate with dental treatment. 23,24 Similarly, people with severe mental illness have been shown to have significantly higher levels of tooth decay, and are more likely to become edentulous when compared to the general population. 25 A systematic review looking at the association between oral health and substance abuse found that individuals with substance use disorders have greater and more severe dental decay and periodontal disease than the general population.…”

Oral health-related quality of life of athletes with disabilities: a cross sectional study

“…Another systematic review about the prevalence of dental caries in athletes with disabilities showed that eight of the included studies were considered to have a moderate risk of bias, and eight were considered to have high risk of bias (Azeredo et al 2019), showing that the bias is present in other studies with this public.…”

“…According to a recent systematic review and meta-analysis, dental caries is a significant global health problem in athletes with intellectual disabilities worldwide (Azeredo et al 2019). Yet another review showed that athletes with intellectual disabilities were more frequently diagnosed with oral health problems such as missing teeth, gingivitis, filled teeth, sealants, and untreated decays (Al-Shamlan et al 2019).…”