Abstract
BackgroundParents/caregivers play an important role in deciding whether their children will undergo orthodontic treatment or not. Their perceptions also have an influence on other choices involving orthodontic treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference and correlation between the ratings given by children and their parents or caregivers on their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) before, during and after orthodontic treatment.MethodsIn this ongoing observational prospective cohort study, 498 children aged 11 to 16 years-old and one of their parents/caregivers completed questionnaires before (T0), 1 year after start (T1) and 1 month after the end of orthodontic treatment (T2). OHRQoL was scored by using the Child Perception Questionnaire (CPQ11–14) and the Parental-Caregiver Perception questionnaire (P-CPQ). The self-perception of oral aesthetics was evaluated with the Oral Aesthetic Subjective Impact Scale (OASIS) in addition to the aesthetic component (AC) of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). Spearman correlations, Mann-Whitney U-tests and linear models were used to analyze the longitudinal data.ResultsAt T0, the ratings of parents/caregivers were significantly lower for the total CPQ as well as for the subdomains of oral symptoms, functional limitations and emotional well-being. Parents/caregivers also scored significantly lower at T2 for the total CPQ and the subdomain of oral symptoms. The relations between the scores of children and their parents/caregivers were significant at all three time points, as were the changes in scores, but all of them were at most moderate in size. Parents/caregivers scored significantly lower for OASIS than their children at all time points and only at baseline a significant, weak correlation was found.ConclusionThe reports of parents/caregivers should be seen as important complementary information in OHRQoL research.Trial registrationThis study was approved by the Medical Ethical Commitee of the University Hospitals Leuven and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (ML5739), Leuven, Belgium, on the 12th of May of 2009, with the registration number S51642. All procedures performed are in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committees and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Highlights
Parents/caregivers play an important role in deciding whether their children will undergo orthodontic treatment or not
The magnitude and direction of the changes in parent-child agreement can only be understood through longitudinal study designs and in the context of a certain treatment, but only a few longitudinal studies have been conducted concerning health-related quality of life [16,17,18] and none of them regards the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL)
The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation and differences between the ratings given by children and their parents/caregivers on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and self-perception of oral aesthetics before, during and after orthodontic treatment
Summary
Parents/caregivers play an important role in deciding whether their children will undergo orthodontic treatment or not. The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference and correlation between the ratings given by children and their parents or caregivers on their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) before, during and after orthodontic treatment Parents or their legal guardians (in this study we will use the term caregivers) play a very important role in decision making, regarding their child’s health and oral health and the use of healthcare services. The lowest correlation has been found for more subjective domains concerning emotional and social well-being [11,12,13], the highest for more objective ones such as physical domains [14] The extent of this correlation can be different according to the analyzed dimensions within health-related quality of life. The magnitude and direction of the changes in parent-child agreement can only be understood through longitudinal study designs and in the context of a certain treatment, but only a few longitudinal studies have been conducted concerning health-related quality of life [16,17,18] and none of them regards the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL)
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