Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39395896›Full record

SynthesisInternational dental journal2025

Secondary Smoking and Early Childhood Caries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Bella Weijia Luo, Ivy Guofang Sun, Sophia Siu Chee Chan, Chun Hung Chu

Abstract readSystematic ReviewMeta-Analysis
In one paragraph

Synthesis in International dental journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Association between passive smoking and oral health among children: an umbrella review.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2026
    Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Bella Weijia LuoFaculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Ivy Guofang SunFaculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Sophia Siu Chee ChanLi Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Chun Hung ChuFaculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. Electronic address: chchu@hku.hk.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThis study aimed to systematically review the relationship between secondary smoking and early childhood caries (ECC) among preschool children.

methodTwo independent reviewers systematically searched English publications with keywords in PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Scopus, and Embase to identify publications reporting on secondary smoking and ECC for children under 71 months. Observational studies, including cohort studies, case-control studies, and cross-sectional surveys, were included. The reviewers screened the titles and abstracts to remove duplicate records, reviews, and irrelevant studies. They performed meta-analyses to investigate the prevalence of ECC in children exposed to secondary smoking.

resultsThis study identified 1243 publications and included 16 publications. Twelve publications were cross-sectional studies. A meta-analysis of 11 of them revealed that children with secondary smoking exposure had an odds ratio of 1.77 in caries risk (P < .001), whereas one cross-sectional study found no increase in caries risk without data reporting. Two cohort studies with low and very low quality were combined into a meta-analysis, which found children from infancy with secondary smoking exposure had a relative risk of 1.45 in caries incidence (P < .001). Two case-control studies with moderate and low quality were combined into a meta-analysis, which found that children exposed to secondary smoking had an odds ratio of 4.46 in caries prevalence (P < .001).

conclusionThe literature has reported that preschool children with secondary smoking exposure have a higher risk of caries; however, the number and quality of these studies are limited.

Indexed as

Dental CariesTobacco Smoke PollutionChild, PreschoolHumansInfantPrevalenceRisk FactorsTobacco Smoke PollutionCariesChildrenParentsPreschoolSecondarySmoking

Identifiers

PMID39395896
PMCPMC11806317

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.