Comparison of patient-based oral health outcome measures.
OBJECTIVE
This project examined psychometric characteristics of four measures of oral-specific health-related quality of life.


METHODS
We selected participants from two samples of community-dwelling male veterans from Boston (USA): (1) 538 users of VA outpatient medical care from the Veterans Health Study (VHS: mean age = 62); and (2) 211 relatively healthy men from the VA Dental Longitudinal Study (DLS: mean age = 70). Patient-based measures included the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Instrument, the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP), the Oral Health-related Quality of Life instrument and the single-item self-report of oral health. Clinical variables included number of teeth, coronal decayed surfaces (CDS), a modification of the Root Caries Index (RCI_D), and the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Need (CPITN).


RESULTS
Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.73 to 0.97. Percent of participants with floor and ceiling scores varied widely by instrument and by item. Patient-based measures were associated with all clinical measures in the combined sample. Number of teeth was associated with patient-based measures (p < 0.001). However, CDS, RCI_D and CPITN scores were associated with patient-based scores in the VHS but not in the DLS. The Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Instrument, the OHIP, the Oral Health-related Quality of Life instrument were strongly linearly related to the single-item global self-report of oral health (p < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
All multi-item measures have high internal consistency and all are valid for measuring oral-specific health-related quality of life.
Jones
Judith A
JA
Center for Health Quality, Outcomes and Economic Research (CHQOER), Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA 01730, USA. judjones@bu.edu
Kressin
Nancy R
NR
Miller
Donald R
DR
Orner
Michelle B
MB
Garcia
Raul I
RI
Spiro
Avron
A
D000368:Aged; D001900:Boston; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*