Table 6.

Caries among immigrant children in the Nordic countries

Exposure/intervention	No. of participants (No. of studies)	Outcome variable (primary or secondary)	RR (95% CI)	Effect	No. of studies rated as A, B or C	Strength of evidence (convincing, probable, limited-suggestive, limited-no conclusion)	Comments
Preschool children (< 7 years of age)	n=2,571 (immigrants 1,273, indigenous 1,298) (6 studies)	Manifest caries (primary) Dmf score	2.5 years: RR 2.46 (1.34–4.51) Adjusted OR 4.10 (2.06–6.14) From 1 to 2.5 years: Adjusted OR 2.34 (1.33–4.13) 3. 5 years: RR 3.13 (2.26–4.33) From 2.5 to 3.5 years: Adjusted OR 2.25 (1.36–3.73) 4 years, 2006: RR 1.83 (1.11–3.02)	2.5 years: 5.1% (1.7–8.6%) 3.5 years: 28.7% (20.5–36.8%) 4 years, 2006: 27% (5–49%) 4 years, dmfs: 1997: 2.2 (–0.6–5.0) 2002: 5.3 (2.3–8.3) 2006: 3.1 (1.1–5.0)	1 A 5 B	Convincing
Early school age (7 years of age)	n=192 (immigrants 152, indigenous 40) (1 study)	Manifest caries Dmf score	dmfs + DMFS (mean caries experience with significance level according to Student's t-test): Turkish: RR 2.4** Pakistani: RR 1.9* Albanian: RR 4.1 *** Somali: RR 0.7 Arabian: 3.2*** PP (prevalence proportion rate): All immigrants: RR 1.48 (0.93–2.35) OR 3.14 (1.53–6.47)	PP (prevalence proportion rate): Turkish: 32% (–4 – 69) Pakistani: 21% (–14 – 56) Albanian: 32% (–9 – 72) Somali: 9% (–33 – 50) Arabian: 26% (–12 – 63) All immigrants: 25% (–5 – 55)	1 B	Probable
Teenagers (15 years of age)	n=278 (immigrants 170, indigenous 108) (2 studies)	Manifest caries DMF score	DMFS (mean caries experience): Turkish: RR 1.9 Pakistani: RR 1.0 Albanian: RR 2.7*** Somali: RR 0.5 Arabian: RR 1.5 (differences according to Student's t-test) PP (prevalence proportion rate): All immigrants: RR 0.79 (0.65–0.96) OR 0.42 (0.18–0.96)	PP (prevalence proportion rate): Turkish: –4% (–22 – 14) Pakistani: –24% (–46–3) Albanian: 7% (–12 – 27) Somali: –48% (–81 – 15) Arabian: –2% (–22 – 18) All immigrants: –17% (–32–2)	2 B	Limited – no conclusion

^*denotes p<0.05

^**p<0.01 and

^***p<0.001.