Oral Health Impact on Daily Living (OHIDL) Questionnaire: Longitudinal validity

Abstract

Objective: OHIDL was developed to measure the perceived oral health impacts on daily life. The transition scale in OHIDL was used to measure the change in perceived impacts after dental treatment. This study aimed to examine its longitudinal validity. Method: Elderly subjects aged 55 years or above were recruited from four dental clinics in Hong Kong. They were asked to rate the intensity level of 16 items in OHIDL before and after dental treatment. They were also asked to retrospectively rate the transition (change of the intensity) of these items after the treatment. Intensity and transition scores were calculated through summing up the responses. Change score was calculated as the difference between the two intensity scores before and after treatment. The associations of the transition and change scores with the global rating of change were used to evaluate their responsiveness.

Result: A total of 176 subjects (mean age: 60.1 years; SD: 8.1) completed the follow-up interviews after treatment. Subjects who reported no global change in oral health impacts had an insignificant mean transition score from zero (mean=0.44, 95% CI: -0.03 -0.92) but a significant positive change score (mean=2.1, 95% CI=0.97-3.22). Subjects who reported improvement and deterioration had significant positive and negative mean transition scores respectively. The correlation between the transition score and the global rating of change (rs=0.76, p<0.05) was higher than that between the change score and the global rating (rs=0.37, p<0.05).

Conclusion: Using transition scale in OHIDL to measure change in perceived oral health impacts after dental treatments in the elderly in Hong Kong is valid and more responsive to detect change than the change score.