OHIP: A Review of its First 20 Years for OHIPPIES

Abstract

Objective: To systematically review all clinical, population and psychometric data on the use of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) since its development 20 years ago in 1994. Method: A systematic literature search was carried out using four databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Scopus) of publications from 1994 to 2014. Abstracts and articles that described the use of OHIP were considered by two independent readers using predefined exclusion criteria. Selected studies were grouped by category and reviewed.

Result: An initial search identified 3262 papers, 1348 ‘potentially effective publications’ were screnned (Kappa >0.80) and 656 publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria - ‘effective’ publications for the review (Kappa >0.80). OHIP has been translated into over 40 different languages and employed in over 60 different countries, but evidence of cross-cultural validation is scant. The validity and reliability of OHIP have been widely reported; and mostly, it performs well. Various short-form measures exist (at least eight), with OHIP-14 being the most common version employed (376 out of 656 studies); however, issues of content validity and responsiveness of OHIP-14 in certain contexts are evident. Increasingly, OHIP is being employed in prospective studies to assess outcomes from clinical interventions (176 of the 656 reports), but few studies have interpreted or measured ‘change’ that is meaningful for a clinical or population health prospective.

Conclusion: OHIP is widely used globally and has generally performed well in terms of psychometrics, albeit that there are cross-cultural concerns. The use of the short-form OHIP-14 is particularly popular, but it may not be the most appropriate measure to use in some particular contexts. Increasingly, OHIP is being used in prospective studies; however, the challenge remains to interpret what ‘change’ in OHIP scores actually means, and to determine its value and use in routine clinical practice as a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM). Happy Birthday OHIP!