Purpose: This study aimed to determine via systematic review and meta-analysis the proportion of maxillofacial trauma resulting from different etiologies among children and adolescents.
Methods: A systematic review of articles published from 2006 to 2015 (10 years) in English language was performed. The following databases were used: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science. Observational studies reporting the number of children and/or adolescents who suffered maxillofacial trauma resulting from different etiologies were included. Studies were selected by two independent reviewers (Kappa = 0.737). A proportion meta-analysis using random-effect models was performed to estimate the pooled prevalence and the 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Der-Simonian and Laird weights. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed using the I 2 statistics.
Results: A total of 27 studies remained after qualitative analysis including 402,339 patients. The male/female ratio ranged from 1.5:1 to 3.5:1. Road traffic accidents corresponded to the main etiology agent of maxillofacial trauma (34%; 95% CI, 25-44), followed by falls (31%; 95% CI, 25-37), violence (11%; 95% CI, 4-19), sports (4%; 95% CI, 3-5), and others (5%; 95% CI, 2-8). Heterogeneity among studies was high, even stratifying by world region. The adapted version of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for observational studies showed an intermediate score for most of the included studies.
Conclusions: Results suggest that road traffic accidents represent the main cause of maxillofacial trauma among children and adolescents. However, results should be interpreted with caution due to the high heterogeneity.
Keywords: Adolescent; Child; Etiology; Maxillofacial injuries; Meta-analysis; Review.