Association between passive smoking and oral health among children: an umbrella review.

PURPOSE: This umbrella review aims to summarize the overall pooled effect sizes to statistically provide a clear and measurable conclusion about the association between passive smoking and oral health outcomes among children.

METHODS

MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Science Direct, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched to retrieve studies. An assessment of primary study overlap was also performed. Furthermore, upon summarizing the effect sizes from included studies, a meta-analysis was also performed.

RESULTS

Out of 537 retrieved records, a total of 12 studies were included in this review. Among the primary studies reported by the systematic review (SR) and/or systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRMAs) (n = 12), over 50% were distinct. The most common exposure to second-hand smoke was from parental or household smoke. Meta-analysis was only performed for dental caries and found that the pooled effect size was 1.53 [1.39, 1.68] at 95% CI, indicating overall statistical significance (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The review concludes that there exists a significant association between passive smoking and oral health outcomes in children and emphasizes the urgent need to mitigate exposure to passive smoking and its detrimental impact on pediatric oral health.