Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39754099›Full record

SynthesisBMC oral health2025

Pica practices, anemia, and oral health outcomes: a systemic review.

Brenda A Z Abu, Abigail Morrissey, Yan Wu, Daniel A Castillo, Rachel Becker, TongTong Wu, Kevin Fiscella, Steven Gill, Jin Xiao

Erratum issuedAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC oral health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–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

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Brenda A Z AbuWegmans School of Health and Nutrition, College of Health Sciences and Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, Louise Slaughter Hall A624, 180 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY, 14623, USA. baaihst@rit.edu.
Abigail MorrisseyWegmans School of Health and Nutrition, College of Health Sciences and Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, Louise Slaughter Hall A624, 180 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY, 14623, USA.
Yan WuEastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
Daniel A CastilloEastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
Rachel BeckerEastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
TongTong WuEastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
Kevin FiscellaDepartment of Family Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
Steven GillEastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
Jin XiaoEastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.

Funding

Understand biological factors underlying early childhood caries disparity from the oral microbiome in early infancyR01DE031025 · NIDCR · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI STEVEN R. GILL, Tongtong Wu · 2022 to 2026
$3.9M
NIDCR NIH HHS 3R01DE031025-01A1S1NIDCR NIH HHS R01 DE031025
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesPica is a non-nutritive eating behavior. The potential impact of pica on oral health and the association between pica and anemia are understudied. We examined the current evidence on the relationship between pica practices, anemia, and oral health outcomes.

methodsWe used Population, Intervention, Control, and Outcomes (PICO) terms to create MeSH terms to assess 1) the relationship between pica and iron deficiency anemia (IDA), 2) the relationship between IDA and oral health, and 3) the relationship between pica, anemia, and oral health outcomes. The review was registered on Prospero [CRD42022349022]. We searched databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and, clinicaltrials.gov in June 2022.

resultsFrom 4,159 searched articles, 89 met the inclusion criteria. Studies were published between 1959 and 2022 from 33 countries. Nearly half of these studies (55.1%, n = 49) were case reports. The most common picas included geophagia (soil/dirt) (44.9%, n = 40 papers), pagophagia (ice) (22.5%, n = 20), amylophagia (starch) (15.7%, n = 14), paint/metal (5.6%, n = 5), paper (5.6%, n = 5) and others such as pica for foam and hair. Fifteen case reports and one intervention study showed the effects of pica practice on oral health, such as tooth abrasion, dental caries, and de-papillated tongue. Furthermore, 81% of the papers reported the co-occurrence of pica with anemia and 15 papers reported a significant association (p < 0.05) between pica and low hemoglobin levels ranging from < 12.0 to 2.7g/dL among all age groups, including among pregnant and postpartum women. Pica practices were strongly associated with IDA (serum ferritin < 15.0 - 4.3 mcg/ml) but showed a non-statistically significant trend of association with oral health outcomes.

conclusionPica was strongly associated with anemia and IDA. Tooth abrasion and dental caries were observed among pica users. Future studies could define the strength of the pica-oral health association, and the potential mediators, such as anemia.

Indexed as

Anemia, Iron-DeficiencyOral HealthPicaDental CariesHumansAnemiaInterventionsIron deficiency anemiaOral healthPica

Identifiers

PMID39754099
PMCPMC11697756

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

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.