Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriers in dental care staff: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen transmitted both in hospital and community settings. Although carriage among medical and nursing personnel has been widely studied, information regarding its presence among dental healthcare workers is limited.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of healthy methicillin-resistant S. aureus carriers among dental personnel.

Materials and methods: We searched for articles in PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, BVS, and Google Scholar in English, Portuguese, and Spanish. Three reviewers selected and extracted data from cross-sectional studies published up to December 2024. We assessed risk of bias using the Joanna Briggs Institute tool. We calculated pooled prevalence and conducted subgroup analyses using a random-effects model with maximum likelihood estimation in Stata 18.0™. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024563164).

Results: We included 17 articles in the systematic review and six in the meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of nasal methicillin-resistant S. aureus carriage among dental personnel was 2.28% (95% CI: 0.78-6.4) in a combined sample of 1256 participants. Among dentists, prevalence was 3.63% (95% CI: 0.98-10.57); among dental assistants, 1.45% (95% CI: 0.11-11), and among dental students in clinical training, 2.0% (95% CI: 0.36-8.0). Differences between groups were not statistically significant (p = 0.87).

Conclusions: Evidence on methicillin-resistant S. aureus carriage among dental personnel is scarce and lacks population representativeness. Although prevalence appears low, continued surveillance among all dental healthcare providers is recommended to monitor epidemiological transmission and associated risk factors.