Cephalometric norms of skeletal relationship among populations in selected Arab countries

Background and Aim:
Despite the availability of several published studies on cephalometric norms among different Arabic countries, “Caucasian” norms are still used as the standard in these countries. The aim of this study was to review the existing literature on the topic and show a meta-analysis of the review for the skeletal values observed in the study.


Materials and Methods:

An electronic search was conducted for studies that examined the SNA, SNB, and ANB angles in study subjects in different Arabic speaking countries. A total of 16 studies were eligible for inclusion in the systematic review and a meta-analysis with results from these studies was completed using the OpenMeta-Analyst software (Brown University, Providence, RI, USA). The weighted mean and
I
2
for heterogeneity were computed individually for the SNA, SNB, and ANB angles, respectively.



Results:
The result of the meta-analysis showed a significant heterogeneity for the SNA, SNB, and ANB angles of each of the populations, suggesting that the populations of the different Arab nations studied were ethnically diverse.


Conclusion:
Within the limitations of this study, it was concluded that given the high level of heterogeneity it may not be feasible to speak of the different Arabic speaking nations as a distinct population for the purpose of developing norms for cephalometric skeletal relationships.