Non-Cochrane · aetiology · PM41146427
Association Between Iron Deficiency Anemia and Dental Caries in Children: A Systematic Umbrella Meta-Analysis.
Fatih Mohammed Taib, Mahmood Mohammed Khalid, Ali Yad Mariwan Mohammed, et al. · Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025 · PubMed · doi:10.1111/jhn.70149
Full textEvery question was extracted from the full text, figures and supplements by two independent LLM extractors, disagreements adjudicated. Rows cite where in the review the value comes from.
Questions
4
current version
GRADE rated
4
No studies
0
Included studies
13
linked below
No studies 0 · 0%Ungraded 0 · 0%Very low 3 · 75%Low 0 · 0%Moderate 1 · 25%High 0 · 0%
Ungraded means an effect was reported without a GRADE rating; it is not a gap. No studies means the review found nothing to answer the question. The six categories are a display order, not a score.
Review question
| Element | Planned (methods) | Found (results) |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Children and adolescents aged 0-18 years, any sex, geographic area, or medical care setting | Children and adolescents 0-18 years (most reviews focused on <6 years); 5 systematic reviews/meta-analyses; 19,399 individuals (6803 cases / 12,596 controls); 48 primary studies (25 unique) |
| Intervention | Iron deficiency anemia / iron deficiency (diagnosed by clinical or laboratory criteria: haemoglobin, serum ferritin, serum iron, MCV) | Iron deficiency anemia / low iron status |
| Comparison | Children without anemia / without dental caries (non-anemic or caries-free comparison) | Non-anemic children / caries-free children |
| Outcomes | Association of dental caries with IDA in children; and mean differences in hematological indices (haemoglobin, serum ferritin, MCV) between children with vs without dental caries | Dental caries (IDA: pooled OR 3.64, significant); serum ferritin, haemoglobin, MCV (pooled MDs, all lower in caries but non-significant) |
| Study designs | Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies (cross-sectional, case-control, or cohort); narrative/scoping reviews, adult-only, and non-peer-reviewed sources excluded | 5 meta-analyses of observational studies (cross-sectional and case-control; one review also included cohort studies) |
| Timing | Not specified | Not specified |
Search date: Before January 2025. Databases: PubMed; Scopus; Web of Science; Google Scholar
Questions and results
Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) vs Children without anemia (non-anemic)
Population: Children and adolescents (0-18 years; most included reviews focused on <6 years)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Dental caries (presence) Children with iron deficiency anemia are over three times more likely to have dental caries than non-anemic children (OR 3.64, 95% CI 2.45 to 5.40; moderate certainty). Source: Table 2; Results 'Association Between IDA and Dental Caries'; Abstract · same question in other reviews | OR 3.64 [2.45, 5.40] | 3 studies | Moderate |
Children with dental caries vs Children without dental caries (caries-free)
Population: Children and adolescents (0-18 years; most included reviews focused on <6 years)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) MCV tends to be lower in children with dental caries, but the pooled difference is not statistically significant (MD -1.96 fL, 95% CI -4.02 to 0.10; very low certainty). Source: Table 2; Results 'Mean Corpuscular Volume' · same question in other reviews | MD -1.96 [-4.02, 0.10] | 3 studies | Very low Downgraded: risk of bias, inconsistency, publication bias |
Serum ferritin level Serum ferritin tends to be lower in children with dental caries, but the pooled difference is not statistically significant (MD -3.96, 95% CI -8.48 to 0.57; very low certainty). Source: Table 2; Results 'Serum Ferritin' · same question in other reviews | MD -3.96 [-8.48, 0.57] | 4 studies | Very low Downgraded: risk of bias, inconsistency, publication bias |
Haemoglobin level Haemoglobin tends to be lower in children with dental caries, but the pooled difference is not statistically significant (MD -2.20 g/dL, 95% CI -4.59 to 0.19; very low certainty). Source: Table 2; Results 'Haemoglobin' · same question in other reviews | MD -2.20 [-4.59, 0.19] | 3 studies | Very low Downgraded: risk of bias, inconsistency, publication bias |
Included primary studies 13
Open as a trial list| Study | Also included by | Outcomes it informs here | Trial PICO | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shamsaddin 2017 matched by author and year (probable) | 1 other review | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Singh 2016 matched by author and year (probable) | 1 other review | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Aguirre-Ipenza et al. 2024 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Akkareddy 2013 First high resolution spectroscopic studies and ab initio calculations of ethanetellurol. PMID:20136116 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Amrollahi & Tarrahi 2022 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Bansal 2016 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Canchari 2020 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Deane 2018 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Easwaran et al. 2022 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Jayakumar 2017 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Nayak 2017 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Schroth 2013 Amino acid delta13C analysis of hair proteins and bone collagen using liquid chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry: paleodietary… PMID:20131322 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Sharifi et al. 2021 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
Overlap with other reviews
Reviews that include the same primary studies are not independent evidence. Shared counts match studies by PMID, DOI or NCT, and otherwise by author and year (a probable match).
| Review | Shared studies | Jaccard |
|---|---|---|
| Iron deficiency and early childhood caries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2021) | 1 | 0.04 |
| Comparison of therapies of white spot lesions: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. (2023) | 1 | 0.01 |