title: A Clinical Validation of Self-Reported Periodontitis Among Participants in the Black Women's Health Study.
abstract: There is a paucity of data on the validity of self-report of periodontal disease in African Americans. The Black Women's Health Study (BWHS), a United States national cohort study of 59,000 black women followed via mailed questionnaires since 1995, offered the opportunity to clinically validate self-reported periodontitis among a sample of participants.
  
  
  
  Oral health questionnaires were sent to study participants residing in Massachusetts. Respondents living in the Boston metro area were invited for clinical examination. Self-reports were compared with clinical data obtained from the 77 women (mean age: 59 years) who were examined. The authors examined the predictive ability of individual and combined questionnaire items with respect to clinical periodontal disease severity. Validation parameters were calculated for each question, and receiver operating characteristic statistics were generated to compare questionnaire items.
  
  
  
  Periodontitis prevalence in the validation sample was 24% for severe periodontitis and 61% for moderate disease. Performance of individual questionnaire items with respect to predicting periodontitis was better for severe compared with moderate disease. Combinations of questionnaire items improved the predictive ability with respect to severe disease beyond that of individual questionnaire items.
  
  
  
  Prevalence of severe periodontitis was similar to other age-comparable populations, without regard for race or sex, whereas prevalence of total periodontitis (moderate and severe) among women of similar age and/or race was much higher. Predictive ability of questionnaire items assessed in the BWHS was similar to that in other studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Heaton
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Nicholas B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Raul I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Slone Epidemiology Center, Boston University.
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Sharron
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University.
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.affiliation: Slone Epidemiology Center, Boston University.
authors.forename: Yvette C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Cozier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005882:Gingival Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D054525:Minority Health; D009909:Oral Health; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000453:epidemiology; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014086:Tooth Mobility / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D016387:Women's Health; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Epidemiology; minority health; periodontitis; self report; validation studies as topic; women’s health