The association between low birth weight and dental caries among 11-to-13-year-old school age children in Ningbo, China: Evaluation Design and Construct Validity

Evaluation is persuasive only when the measured outcome corresponds to the construct claimed by the study and the comparison answers the stated research question. This structured evidence review evaluates "The association between low birth weight and dental caries among 11-to-13-year-old school age children in Ningbo, China" alongside nine author-disjoint, topically matched publications in pediatric dental epidemiology. It compares construct definitions, evaluation choices, operating assumptions, and reported limitations instead of treating bibliographic similarity as empirical equivalence. Viewed through evaluation design and construct validity, the map separates claims supported by the available record from questions that still require full-text extraction, replication, or new experiments. The synthesis is interpretive rather than meta-analytic and therefore does not present a pooled effect estimate or a new causal result. The resulting agenda aligns claims, outcomes, comparators, sampling, and uncertainty before any performance estimate is interpreted.

1. Weng, X., Lou, Y., Tao, R., Li, Y., Cao, D., Yu, M., Ying, B., & Wang, H. (2021). The association between low birth weight and dental caries among 11-to-13-year-old school age children in Ningbo, China. BMC Pediatrics, 21(1), 491. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-021-02968-7 DOI
2. Koberova, R., Radochova, V., Zemankova, J., Ryskova, L., Broukal, Z.-K., & Merglova, V. (2020). Evaluation of the risk factors of dental caries in children with very low birth weight and normal birth weight. . https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-17812/v3 DOI
3. Tanaka, K., & Miyake, Y. (2014). Low birth weight, preterm birth or small-for-gestational-age are not associated with dental caries in young Japanese children. BMC Oral Health, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6831-14-38 DOI
4. Maatouk, F., Belgacem, B., Belgacem, R., Ghedira, H., & Jemmali, B. (2021). [Prevalenceof dental caries in children with low birth weight]. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 2(2), 311-314. https://doi.org/10.26719/1996.2.2.311 DOI
5. Ali, R.-A., & Diab, B.-S. (2013). Salivary Cortisol among Low Birth Weight 5 Years Old Kindergarten Children in Relation to Dental Caries : Comparative Study. Journal of Baghdad College of Dentistry, 25(4), 126-133. https://doi.org/10.12816/0015079 DOI
6. Athamneh, T., Al-Shraideh, Z., & Malkawi, T.-F. (2014). The Association between Low Birth Weight and Dental Caries of Primary Teeth among Jordanian Children. World Family Medicine Journal/Middle East Journal of Family Medicine, 12(3), 24-29. https://doi.org/10.5742/mefm.2014.92457 DOI
7. Teixeira, N.-M., Carvalho, F.-G.-D., Abreu, M.-H.-N.-G.-D., Souza-Oliveira, A.-C., Feuser, E., Bendo, C.-B., & Martins, C.-C. (2022). Risk Factors for the Incidence of Dental Caries in Low, Very Low, and Extremely Low Birth Weight Children: A Cohort Study. Pesquisa Brasileira em Odontopediatria e Clínica Integrada, 22. https://doi.org/10.1590/pboci.2022.050 DOI
8. Rafatjou, R., Ahmadi, B., & Azizzadeh, M. (2018). Evaluation of the Relationship of the Permanent First Molar Enamel Defects And Dental Caries With Delivery Type and Birth Weight In 6- to 12-Year-Old Children in Hamadan. Avicenna Journal of Dental Research, 10(4), 120-124. https://doi.org/10.34172/ajdr.2018.24 DOI
9. da Silva Castro, C.-R., de Sousa Cabral, M.-B.-B., Mota, E.-L.-A., Cangussu, M.-C.-T., & Vianna, M.-I.-P. (2019). Analysis of the influence of low birth weight on the time of eruption of dental caries in children in early childhood. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 79(4), 292-297. https://doi.org/10.1111/jphd.12322 DOI
10. Saraiva, M.-C.-P., & Castro, C.-A. (2004). Lack of association between small for gestational age, low birth weight, and dental caries in the primary dentition. Annals of Epidemiology, 14(8), 619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2004.07.075 DOI