Assessing association of dental caries with child oral impact on daily performance; a cross-sectional study of adolescents in Copperbelt province, Zambia

Abstract

Background Dental caries and child oral impact on daily performance (C-OIDP) have been linked in several studies. However, the studies used caries indices, which limit the ability to examine how C-OIDP prevalence varies across various stages of the dental caries process. Furthermore, cross-cultural differences between Zambia and other African countries where the C-OIDP instrument has been widely used necessitate testing its pychometric properties. This study’s primary aim was to evaluate the association between dental caries and C-OIDP. Secondarily, the study reports the psychometric properties of the C-OIDP index among Zambian adolescents. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted between February and June 2021 among grade 8–9 adolescents in Copperbelt province, Zambia. A multistage cluster sampling method was used to select participants. Using a pretested self-administered questionnaire, socio-demographics, oral health behaviors, self-reported oral health, and C-OIDP were evaluated. The test-retest and internal consistency reliability of the C-OIDP were evaluated. The Caries Assessment and Treatment Spectrum (CAST) was used to evaluate dental caries. Adjusted odd ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to evaluate the association between dental caries and C-OIDP after adjusting for confounders identified by a directed acyclic graph. Results Among 1,794 participants, 54.0% were females, while 56.0% were aged 11–14 years. About a quarter (24.6%) had one or more teeth at the pre-morbidity stage, 15.2% at the morbidity, 6.4% at the severe morbidity and 2.7 at the mortality stage. The internal consistency reliability of the C-OIDP Cohen’s Kappa was 0.940, while the Kappa coefficients of the C-OIDP items ranged from 0.960 to 1.00. Participants with severe caries had a high prevalence of C-OIDP, with rates for morbidity, severe morbidity, and mortality stages being 49.3%, 65.3%, and 49.3%, respectively. Oral impacts were 2.6 times (AOR 2.6, 95% CI 2.1–3.4) more likely to be reported by participants with dental caries than those without caries. Conclusions Dental caries was associated with high reporting of C-OIDP, and C-OIDP prevalence was high among participants in the severe stages of the caries process. The English version of the C-OIDP demonstrated adequate psychometric characteristics for assessing OHRQoL among Zambian adolescents.

Effect of modified basic package of oral care on adolescents’ dental caries status in Copperbelt Province, Zambia; A Cluster Randomized Trial

“…Mother’s and father’s education were recorded according to Zambian education structure [12] as follows: 1=no formal education, 2=up to primary, 3=secondary, 4= tertially (college or university) and thereafter dichotomized into {0=up to primary (including the original scores 1-2) and 1=Secondary or higher (including the original scores 3-4)}. Socio-economic status (SES) was derived from international wealth index (IWI) items [13] as elaborated in a previous publication [14] and recorded as 1= high and 2 =low to middle SES.…”

Oral-health-related quality of life in adolescents: umbrella review

“…The literature report worse oral health conditions impact school performance and socialization [ 5 ]. Impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) increases proportionally with the severity of oral diseases [ 9 , 10 ]. Fluorosis and dental caries impact on self-perception [ 11 – 13 ].…”

“…Systematic reviews carried out to observe the methodological quality of the studies, and thath encourage the realization of new, well-designed research on the subject [ 9 , 10 ]. This because, many studies report general limitations in the papers included, which may compromise the quality of the evidence of the findings.…”

“…Disagreements between authors on the method of evaluating predictive factors such as caries, frequency of dental visits and the outcome related to OHRQoL [ 9 , 20 ], and the allocation of children and adolescents in the same group/assessment method may suggest biased data [ 9 ]. They also indicate the importance of using validated and tested socio-dental measures in different populations to analyze the impact on OHRQoL in adolescents [ 9 , 10 ]. Untill now, only two instruments assess the impact of oral health on the oral health-related quality of life of adolescents between 11 and 18 years of age: the Caregiver Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ 11–14), and the Child Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (Child OIDP [ 2 , 19 ].…”