Study Methods, Recruitment, Sociodemographic Findings, and Demographic Representativeness in the OPPERA Study

Abstract

This paper describes methods used in the project “Orofacial Pain Prospective Evaluation and Risk Assessment” (OPPERA) and evaluates socio-demographic characteristics associated with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in the OPPERA case-control study. Representativeness was investigated by comparing socio-demographic profiles of OPPERA participants with population census profiles of counties near study sites and by comparing age- and gender-associations with TMD in OPPERA and the 2007-09 US National Health Interview Survey. Volunteers aged 18-44 years were recruited at four US study sites: 3,263 people without TMD were enrolled into the prospective cohort study; 1,633 of them were selected as controls for the baseline case-control study. Cases were 185 volunteers with examiner-classified TMD. Distributions of some demographic characteristics among OPPERA participants differed from census profiles, although there was less difference in socio-economic profiles. Odds of TMD was associated with greater age in this 18-44 year range; females had three times the odds of TMD as males; and relative to non-Hispanic-Whites, other racial groups had one-fifth the odds of TMD. Age- and gender-associations with chronic TMD were strikingly similar to associations observed in the US population. Assessments of representativeness in this demographically diverse group of community volunteers suggest that OPPERA case-control findings have good internal validity.

Sleep Bruxism-Tooth Grinding Prevalence, Characteristics and Familial Aggregation: A Large Cross-Sectional Survey and Polysomnographic Validation

“…This age range in women corresponds to hormonal changes, an increase in degenerative jaw bone disorders, and TMD. 22,23 One can speculate that all these factors combined might exacerbate this increase in SB, or that some other factors, like pain and insomnia, are actually driving this increase. On the other hand, the three-way interaction analysis also shows that women with chronic pain have a higher chance of having first-degree relatives with SB, even if they do not report SB.…”

The Evolution of TMD Diagnosis

“…OPPERA created a specific TMD case definition, sufficient to clearly identify those without lifetime TMDs as based on pain and pain-related limitations as well as for acute or chronic TMD pain, using modified RDC/TMD (Slade et al 2011).…”

Epiregulin and EGFR interactions are involved in pain processing

“…The OPPERA cohort was recruited and phenotyped as detailed previously (48,49) and is described briefly here. Volunteers were recruited at 4 US study sites.…”