Caries Status and Associated Factors in Children With Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) have incapacitated on daily life
activities, chewing or swallowing problems, drooling saliva and other fac￾tors influence poor oral hygiene. The study aimed to explore scientific liter￾atures related caries status and factor associated in children with IDs. This
comparative study was a systematic review and meta-analysis regarding
the caries status between children with IDs and control group. The study
was conducted on five data bases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Wi￾ley Online and Cochrane Library published from January 2004 to 15 Janu￾ary 2020. The reliability of the selection of the papers was very high (Kappa
= 0.91). Review Manager (RevMan 5.3.3) was used for meta-analysis with
p-value < 0.05. The initial search yielded 2337 articles. Twenty-four stud￾ies included in qualitative synthesis demonstrated several factors affected
caries in IDs children consisted of parental awareness, severity of disor￾der, dietary intake, oral biology factor, medication use, dental professional
acceptance and financial barrier. Thirteen studies included in quantitative
synthesis showed the caries in children with intellectual disability was high￾er than normal children (p < 0.001). Children with IDs showed higher caries
rates than general children. The findings suggest children with IDs support
are necessary from their parents/caregivers, dental professional and policy
maker to improve oral health promotion and prevention