title: Patient-centred outcome measures in oral medicine: are they valid and reliable?
abstract: The present study evaluates the performance of patient-centred outcome measures in the oral medicine setting in patients with oral lichen planus. The study included 48 patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of oral lichen planus who completed a questionnaire incorporating two patient-centred outcome measures: the 16-item UK Oral Health Related Quality Of Life Measure (OHQOL-UK) and 14-item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14). They subsequently underwent an oral examination and rated the pain they experienced on a visual analogue scale (VAS). The impact of oral health on their life quality was considerable with physical, social and psychological consequences. Both OHQOL-UK (P<0.01) and OHIP-14 scores (P<0.01) were associated with clinical findings; demonstrating criterion validity. Patient rating of pain experienced (on a VAS) correlated with OHQOL-UK scores (P<0.01) and OHIP-14 (P<0.01); demonstrating construct validity. The mean inter-item correlation for OHQOL-UK was 0.93 and was 0.90 for OHIP-14; demonstrating high internal consistency reliability. Our results suggest both OHQOL-UK and OHIP-14, patient-centred outcome measures perform well in patients with oral lichen planus, demonstrating validity and reliability. This implies patient-centred outcome measures may be utilized in both oral medicine and oral and maxillofacial surgery to assess patient needs and opinions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health Care Sciences, UCL, University of London, 256 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8LD, UK.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hegarty
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Hodgson
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Porter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D017676:Lichen Planus, Oral / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health; D010147:Pain Measurement; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome