title: Reliability assessment and correlation analysis of evaluating orthodontic treatment outcome in Chinese patients.
abstract: This study aimed to assess the reliability of experienced Chinese orthodontists in evaluating treatment outcome and to determine the correlations between three diagnostic information sources. Sixty-nine experienced Chinese orthodontic specialists each evaluated the outcome of orthodontic treatment of 108 Chinese patients. Three different information sources: study casts (SC), lateral cephalometric X-ray images (LX) and facial photographs (PH) were generated at the end of treatment for 108 patients selected randomly from six orthodontic treatment centers throughout China. Six different assessments of treatment outcome were made by each orthodontist using data from the three information sources separately and in combination. Each assessment included both ranking and grading for each patient. The rankings of each of the 69 judges for the 108 patients were correlated with the rankings of each of the other judges yielding 13 873 Spearman rs values, ranging from -0.08 to +0.85. Of these, 90% were greater than 0.4, showing moderate-to-high consistency among the 69 orthodontists. In the combined evaluations, study casts were the most significant predictive component (R(2)=0.86, P<0.000 1), while the inclusion of lateral cephalometric films and facial photographs also contributed to a more comprehensive assessment (R(2)=0.96, P<0.000 1). Grading scores for SC+LX and SC+PH were highly significantly correlated with those for SC+LX+PH (r(SC+LX)vs.(SC+LX+PH)=0.96, r(SC+PH)vs.(SC+LX+PH)=0.97), showing that either SC+LX or SC+PH is an excellent substitute for all three combined assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Guang-Ying
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Orthodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-He
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Xing
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Institute of Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Orthodontics, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China [2] Key Laboratory for Oral Biomedical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Ran
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: Sheldon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baumrind
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Tian-Min
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000592:standards; D002681:China; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008311:Malocclusion, Angle Class I / Q000628:therapy; D008312:Malocclusion, Angle Class II / Q000628:therapy; D008313:Malocclusion, Angle Class III / Q000628:therapy; D003765:Models, Dental / Q000592:standards; D009970:Orthodontics / Q000592:standards*; D018024:Peer Review, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D010781:Photography / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016896:Treatment Outcome