Derivation and validation of a short‐form oral health impact profile

Abstract

Growing recognition that quality of life is an important outcome of dental care has created a need for a range of instruments to measure oral health‐related quality of life. This study aimed to derive a subset of items from the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP‐49) ‐ a 49‐item questionnaire that measures people's perceptions of the impact of oral conditions on their well‐being. Secondary analysis was conducted using data from an epidemiologic study of 1217 people aged 60+ years in South Australia. Internal reliability analysis, factor analysis and regression analysis were undertaken to derive a subset (OHIP‐14) questionnaire and its validity was evaluated by assessing associations with sociodemographic and clinical oral status variables. Internal reliability of the OHIP‐14 was evaluated using Cronbach's coefficient α. Regression analysis yielded an optimal set of 14 questions. The OHIP‐14 accounted for 94% of variance in the OHIP‐49; had high reliability (α=0.88); contained questions from each of the seven conceptual dimensions of the OHIP‐49; and had a good distribution of prevalence for individual questions. OHIP‐14 scores and OHIP‐49 scores displayed the same pattern of variation among sociodemographic groups of older adults. In a multivariate analysis of dentate people, eight oral status and sociodemographic variables were associated (P<0.05) with both the OHIP‐49 and the OHIP‐14. While it will be important to replicate these findings in other populations, the findings suggest that the OHIP‐14 has good reliability, validity and precision.