Evidence mapPaperPMID 30983824Full record

ReviewThe Saudi dental journal2019

Regional caries data availability in Saudi Arabia: Impact of socioeconomic factors and research potential.

Asim Al-Ansari, Maha El Tantawi, Mohamed Mehaina, Muhanad Alhareky, Shazia Sadaf, Jehan AlHumaid, Adel AlAgl, Fahad Al-Harbi

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in The Saudi dental journal, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing 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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  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

8 authors.

Asim Al-AnsariDepartment of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
Maha El TantawiDepartment of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
Mohamed MehainaAlexandria and Mediterranean Research Center, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Corniche, Alexandria 21526, Egypt.
Muhanad AlharekyDepartment of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
Shazia SadafDepartment of Dental Education, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
Jehan AlHumaidDepartment of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
Adel AlAglDepartment of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
Fahad Al-HarbiDepartment of Substitutive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

aimsMonitoring oral diseases is needed to allocate resources, plan health services and train dental workforce. Caries is one of the oral diseases most commonly included in oral health surveillance systems. The present study assessed (1) caries data availability in the administrative regions of Saudi Arabia and (2) factors associated with this availability.

methodsWe collected caries data in the period 2008-2018 in Saudi Arabia (outcome variable). The explanatory variables included region-level factors: (a) socio-economic indicators (percentage of individuals with university education, percentage of category A governorates, percentage of owned houses, households with computers, internet and smart phones) and, (b) oral health research potential indicators (number of Dental Public Health (DPH) specialists, Ministry of Health (MoH) dentist to population ratio and number of dental schools). ArcGIS was used for data visualization and logistic regression was used for analysis.

resultsTwenty-two studies provided caries data for 46.2% of the regions which were inhabited by 84.7% of the population. Region-level data availability was associated with the number of dental schools (OR = 1.63) with 61.5% of the regions correctly classified. More regions were correctly classified when population to MoH dentist ratio (76.9%) and the number of DPH specialists (92.3%) were included.

conclusionsCaries data were available for half of the administrative regions in Saudi Arabia and data availability was associated with higher number of dental schools. The presence of DPH specialist provided the critical mass to collect caries data.

Indexed as

Data collectionEpidemiological monitoringGeographic information systemsInformation disseminationSaudi ArabiaSchools, dental

Identifiers

PMID30983824
PMCPMC6445450

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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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 Socratic graph.