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DO BODY MASS INDEX AND WAIST CIRCUMFERENTIAL ASSOCIATE WITH DENTAL CARIES
IN ASIAN CHILDREN?
NMRR-18-3551-45099

Rokiah M, Ameera SA, Atikah S, Marhazlinda J

Introduction: Childhood caries and obesity are public health concerns in Asia. Both
conditions shared similar risk factors. However, the association between these two
conditions was inconclusive. Objective: To investigate the association between body mass
index (BMI) and waist circumferential (WC) with caries in primary dentition among
children in Asia. Materials and Methods: Twenty-six databases were searched for
published studies in the English language from inception until Jun 2019. Two reviewers
independently screened, selected the studies, extracted the data, and assessed the risk
of bias. Discrepancies were solved by discussion and reference to the third reviewers. A
meta-analysis with a random-effect model with heterogeneity assessed using Higgin I
2
statistic, followed by sensitivity analysis and funnel plot to report bias, was performed.
The harvest plot was employed when the meta-analysis was inappropriate. Results: Of
4,532 studies retrieved, thirty-six studies were included. Twenty-eight studies were
pooled in a meta-analysis, and eight studies were analysed with Harvest plot. Meta-
analysis showed that BMI was negatively associated with caries prevalence and caries
severity. Obese (OR: 0.58; 95%CI 0.44, 0.77) or overweight children (OR: 0.64; 95%CI 0.53,
0.77) were less likely to have caries, while the underweight children (SMD: 0.15; 95%CI
0.05, 0.25) have more caries, all compared to normal-weight children. The quality of the
evidence was rated low using GRADE. Harvest plot demonstrated that waist
circumference (WC) of the children was negatively associated with caries severity in the
primary dentition. Conclusion: Evidence has negatively associated BMI and WC with
dental caries in Asian children. The availability of a higher quality of evidence could
strengthen the conclusion. Evidence is beneficial for prevention and health promotion
using the Common Risk Factor approach (CRFA) and further strengthening health policies.
Future studies for other anthropometric measurements than BMI and more studies from
South East Asia and Central Asia are required.

Oral presentation at MAPD 2021 Virtual and Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting ‘Imaging in Paediatric
th
Dentistry-More Than Meet the Eyes’ on 13-14 March 2021
Dr Rokiah Mamikutty Dr Marhazlinda Jamaludin
Dr Ameera Syafiqah Aly Department of Community Dentistry and
Oral Health Programme Clinical Prevention
Ministry of Health Malaysia Faculty of Dentistry
Department of Community Dentistry and Clinical Prevention University of Malaya
Faculty of Dentistry Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
University of Malaya
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Atikah Shaharudin
Malaysian Health Technology Assessment Section (MaHTAS)
Ministry of Health Putrajaya.

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