Overview and quality assurance for the oral health component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2009-2010

• Published in: Journal of public health dentistry Vol. 74; no. 3; pp. 248 - 256
• Main Authors: Dye, Bruce A., Li, Xianfen, Lewis, Brenda G., Iafolla, Tim, Beltran-Aguilar, Eugenio D., Eke, Paul I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2014; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; data reliability; Dental care; dental public health; Dentistry; epidemiology; Humans; NHANES; Nutrition Surveys; Oral Health; Oral hygiene; periodontal disease; Polls & surveys; quality assurance; Quality Assurance, Health Care; surveillance; United States; Young Adult; United States; data reliability; dental public health; epidemiology; quality assurance; oral health; NHANES; surveillance; periodontal disease
• ISSN: 0022-4006; 1752-7325
• DOI: 10.1111/jphd.12056

Objective In 2009‐2010, the oral health component for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) focused on adult periodontal health and included a full mouth periodontal examination as well as a series of questions adminis during the home interview. During this period, intraoral assessments were conducted by dental hygienists. Methods This report provides oral health content information and results of dental examiner reliability for data collected during NHANES 2009‐2010 on 7,189 persons aged 3‐19 years and 30 years and older representing the US civilian, noninstitutionalized population in these age groups. Results For caries and dental sealant assessments, Kappa statistics ranged from 0.71 to 1.00. Kappa scores for moderate and severe periodontitis using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/American Academy of Periodontology case definition guidelines was 0.70, but were lower for other periodontal status definitions. When defining moderate or severe periodontitis based on the NHANES 2003‐2004 study, protocols using data from only three facial periodontal sites, the Kappa scores were 0.64 and 0.55. Interclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for mean attachment loss were 0.80 or higher for both examiners. Site‐specific mean attachment loss ICCs were generally higher for interproximal measurements compared with mid‐facial and mid‐lingual measurements. Conclusion Overall, the data reliability analyses conducted for 2009‐2010 indicate an acceptable level of data quality and that examiner (dental hygienist) performance in this data collection cycle is similar to prior survey periods since the NHANES continuous survey began in 1999.