title: Comparison of patient-based oral health outcome measures.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Quality, Outcomes and Economic Research (CHQOER), Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA 01730, USA. judjones@bu.edu
authors.forename: Judith A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Nancy R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Kressin
authors.forename: Donald R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Michelle B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Orner
authors.forename: Raul I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Avron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spiro
mesh_terms: 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*