PS4-44 USE OF THE CHILD HEALTH UTILITY 9D INDEX IN AUSTRALIAN ADOLESCENTS WITH DENTAL CARIES

Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Grand Ballroom EH (Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch)
Poster Board # PS4-44

Utsana Tonmukayakul, DDS, MPH, MHEcon1, Hanny Calache, DDS, PhD2, Kerina Princi, BAppSc(Pod), GradDipHlthProm3 and Lisa Gold, MA, MSc, PhD1, (1)Deakin Health Economics, Melbourne, Australia, (2)Dental Health Services Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, (3)Australasian Leukaemia & Lymphoma Group, Melbourne, Australia
Purpose:

To investigate the use of Child Health Utility 9D (CHU9D) as quality of life (QoL) measure in adolescents participating in a Minimal Intervention Dentistry (MID) trial. 

Method:

The CHU9D, the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDASII), oral health perception and knowledge and socio-demographic baseline data were collected from public dental patients aged 11-16 participating in the MID trial. QoL scores were derived from the CHU9D tariff of Australian adolescents. ICDASII was translated to a dental caries (D3MFT) index that represented the number of teeth that were cavitated or missing or filled due to decay.  

   Descriptive analysis was performed followed by Chi-square and Mann-Whitney test where appropriate. Correlation was assessed between QoL scores and dental caries index, oral health perception and knowledge and socio-demographic factors. 

Result:

85% of the 239 participants provided complete data on CHU9D and 79 % socio-demographic questions compared to 83% on oral health perception and knowledge questions and 100% with observed ICDASII. Mean QoL score was 0.86 (SD=0.12), ranging from 0.44 to 1 with negatively-skewed distribution (median 0.88).

   Most participants (83%) experienced dental caries (D3MFT >1), with a mean 3.1 (SD 2.5) decayed teeth (range 0 to 12). Mean QoL scores changed only slightly across quartiles of the D3MFT index (0.85, 0.86, 0.87 and 0.85) with no evidence of significant association between dental caries index score and QoL (p=0.37).

  Lower self-reported oral health (pain in teeth while eating or drinking; frequency of gum bleeding; perceived plaque on teeth) had lower QoL score. Participants reporting poor oral health had a significant lower QoL score than those reporting better oral health (0.76, 0.83, 0.86, 0.88, 0.92, p=0.02). Similar significant differences were seen in participants who reported placing a greater importance on having a healthy mouth (0.90, 0.81, 0.75, 0.85, 0.87, p=0.04). However, the latter two factors explained only a small proportion of total variance (R2=0.32 and 0.23). QoL did not vary significantly across socio-demographic factors within this population.

Conclusion:

QoL was not associated with the extent of clinically-diagnosed dental caries, but was related to the individual’s self-perceived oral health and importance of oral health. The use of CHU9D as a measure of oral health-related QoL for cost-utility analysis study in adolescents requires further exploration.