AB046. Ethical safeguard reporting in Malaysian pediatric oral health research: a scoping review
Abstract

AB046. Ethical safeguard reporting in Malaysian pediatric oral health research: a scoping review

Tengku Nurfarhana Nadirah Tengku Hamzah1, Nik Sherina Hanafi2, Rumana Saifi3

1Department of Orthodontics, Pediatric and Special Care Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Department of Primary Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 3Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Background: Pediatric oral health research in Malaysia is guided by national and international ethical standards. However, its frequent classification as minimal risk may contribute to limited transparency in reporting child assent. This scoping review examined the extent and clarity of reporting on ethics approval, parental consent, and child assent in Malaysian pediatric oral health publications.

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, MyJurnal, and the National Medical Research Register (NMRR) was conducted following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines.

Results: A total of 71 articles met the inclusion criteria. Ethics approval was reported in 88.7% (n=63) and parental consent in 91.5% (n=65) of studies. Child assent, however, was documented in only 6.9% (n=5), with reporting first appearing in publications from 2021 onwards. Among the studies that documented assent, 60% (n=3) used written assent forms and 40% (n=2) relied on implied assent, with only one study providing detailed procedural description. Reporting of ethics approval and parental consent increased over time, rising from under 50% in 2001–2005 to over 95% after 2015.

Conclusions: While ethics approval and parental consent are consistently reported in Malaysian pediatric oral health research, documentation of child assent remains limited and inconsistently detailed. Strengthening adherence to national ethical guidance and enhancing support from researchers, ethics committees, and journal editors will be essential to improve transparency and promote child-inclusive research practices.

Keywords: Oral health; assent; parental consent; ethical safeguards

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The manuscript was the output from the MOHRE program, which was funded by the Fogarty International Center of the United States, National Institutes of Health (No. R25TW010891) in collaboration with the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, and the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. N.S.H. and T.N.N.T.H. are members of the Faculty of Dentistry Medical Ethics Committee in University Malaya. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the noncommercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/jphe-26-ab046
Cite this abstract as: Tengku Hamzah TNN, Hanafi NS, Saifi R. AB046. Ethical safeguard reporting in Malaysian pediatric oral health research: a scoping review. J Public Health Emerg 2026;10:AB046.

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