title: Oral health-related quality of life in Dutch children with cleft lip and/or palate.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the oral health-related quality of life (OH-RQoL) of Dutch cleft lip and palate patients. It was hypothesized that (1) there is no difference between cleft patients' and their parents' reports of patients' OH-RQoL; (2) there are no gender differences; (3) there are no differences in OH-RQoL between cleft patients with regard to their symptoms; and (4) there is no difference between patients above and below 12 years of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of 122 patients with clefts (age range, 8-15 years) and their parents. Respondents were recruited from the cleft palate team of Amsterdam. They completed the Child Oral Health-Related Quality of Life questionnaire (COHIP). Items were divided into five different subscales, and scores on all subscales were compared between and within groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients' and parents' perceptions differed significantly on three of the five subscales. Girls and boys did not differ significantly with regard to their perception of reported OH-RQoL. The cleft lip and cleft lip and alveolus [CL(A)] subgroup scored significantly higher on the functional well-being subscale. The cleft patients aged 12 years and older scored significantly lower on the emotional well-being and oral symptoms subscales when compared with their younger peers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only the second hypothesis was not rejected in this study. This means that parents are not interchangeable with regard to reporting on their children's perceptions related to OH-RQoL, that OH-RQoL changes with age, and that it is important that subgroups are respected when investigating OH-RQoL in cleft patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam ACTA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Annemieke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bos
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prahl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D009909:Oral Health; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors