Prevalence of periodontal disease among Vietnamese adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

To synthesize previous findings on the prevalence of periodontal disease (PD) in the adult Vietnamese population, a search for peer-reviewed literature was conducted using the MEDLINE, PubMed and Scopus databases through January 10, 2022. Two reviewers individually assessed abstracts and full-text articles to determine their suitability for inclusion. Only English articles were included if their results described the prevalence of PD among the Vietnamese. Among 900 potential studies, 8 cross-sectional studies with 7,262 adult participants qualified to be included. We found that overall the prevalence of PD was 64.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): 45-81%), with very high heterogeneity across the observed prevalence estimates (Q = 1,204.8776; df = 7; p < 0.001; I2 = 99.42%). Further subgroup analyses stratified by age, location, sampling, study design, and region also revealed significant differences, with a higher prevalence of PD among (1) population-based studies, (2) participants aged >= 65 years, (3) participants with non-chronic diseases, (4) studies using the WHO, community periodontal index (CPI) and standard oral examinations, (5) studies conducted in Central Vietnam, and (6) studies using randomization sampling (p < 0.01) than in other populations. Sensitivity analyses validated the stability of the current findings. Within the limits of the available evidence, this meta-analysis showed a high percentage of Vietnamese adults suffer from PD. Nonetheless, the findings should be taken cautiously due to the limited number of published articles and the possibility of bias in the included research. More well-designed studies with larger sample sizes are thus required for further verification.