Systematic review of school-based tobacco prevention programs for the adolescents in India from 2000 to 2020.

In India, 14.6% of adolescents are currently using tobacco in any form and tobacco control is a major public health challenge. The objective of this systematic review is to analyze all the existing literature and evaluate the effectiveness of school-based tobacco use prevention programs for adolescents in India. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020159535). Studies were selected using database search, manual search, gray literature, reference chasing, and contacting the authors. All randomized controlled trials, cluster-randomized trials, quasi-experimental, and non-randomized studies reporting school-based tobacco use preventive interventions for adolescents in India; articles published in English (other languages where it can be translated to English) published between January 2000 till May 2020 were included. Data was independently extracted by two reviewers. The Risk of bias (RoB) and quality of the study were assessed using appropriate tools. Among 7972 identified articles, only 13 studies met the inclusion criteria. Each study implemented a unique intervention and measured distinct outcomes. Postintervention, all the studies reported improvements in the study group with respect to the reduction of tobacco use and change in the knowledge, attitude, practices, and/or behavior outcome parameters. Twelve study results were based on short-term assessment. Overall, a 5.17-17.0% tobacco use reduction rate was noted. RoB was high for six studies. Key methodological problems related to study design, duration, outcome parameter, follow-up time, type of intervention, and attrition were identified. School-based tobacco use prevention programs for adolescents in India might have shown positive outcomes but are associated with significant limitations.

Dental caries prevalence among 5- to 15-year-old children from SEAR countries of WHO: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this review was to estimate the prevalence of dental caries in children 5-15 years of age in the countries of the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) of World Health Organization (WHO) and to describe the different caries indices used in these population-based studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic search was carried out in two databases from 1st January 2005 to 31st May 2015. Studies were included if they met the predetermined eligibility criteria. Quality assessment was done with eight-item checklist. Meta-analysis was done for 5, 12, 15, and 6-15 years age group using software STATA version 12. RESULTS: The search strategy yielded 265 unique articles of which 36 met the inclusion criteria included for the review. Data were available for only three SEAR countries. The quality of the majority of the studies ranged from moderate to high. Heterogeneity between the studies was high (I2 > 98%). Variation in dental caries prevalence was found among different ages and among different SEAR countries. The most commonly used index for measuring dental caries was the dentition status of the 1997 WHO criteria. CONCLUSION: Dental caries continues to be a prominent oral health problem among children in the SEAR countries with huge variation in the prevalence across ages and countries. This review results can be used to update the "WHO Oral Health Country/Area Profile Program" for dental caries among children for SEAR.