Health- and oral health-related quality of life among preschool children with cerebral palsy.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the health- and oral health-related quality of life of preschool children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to determine their inter-relationship between the two quality of life measures.


METHODS
A total of 144 preschool children with and without CP were invited to participate in the case-control study. Health-related quality of life was assessed by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4.0 (PedsQL™ 4.0) and oral health-related quality of life by the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS). Differences in PedsQL™ 4.0 and ECOHIS scores were determined between the groups, and correlation between PedsQL and ECOHIS were explored.


RESULTS
Significant differences in overall scores of PedsQL™ 4.0 (P < 0.001) and in overall scores of ECOHIS (P < 0.05) were apparent between the two groups. In terms of health- and oral health-related quality of life, preschool children with CP fared worse than the age-gender-matched control group. There was a positive albeit weak correlation (r = 0.203, P < 0.05) between PedsQL™ 4.0 and ECOHIS scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Differences in health- and oral health-related quality of life exist among preschool children with CP. Correlation between health- and oral health-related quality of life could at best be described as weak.
Du
Rennan Y
RY
Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. rennandu@gmail.com
McGrath
Colman
C
Yiu
Cynthia K Y
CK
King
Nigel M
NM
D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health; D011788:Quality of Life