Psychometric properties of the General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and dental status of an elderly Mexican population.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Geriatric/General Oral Health Assessment Index, Spanish version (GOHAI-Sp) and their relationship with the dentition status of an elderly Mexican population as a discriminatory validation.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among persons over 60 years of age. A Spanish version the GOHAI-Sp validated in Spain in institutionalized geriatric patients was used. Clinical evaluation was done in order to determine experience with coronal and root caries.

RESULTS

Measurement of internal consistency of the GOHAI gave a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.77 for the 12 items. In factorial analysis, one factor alone was capable of explaining 30.6 percent of the total variance. The factor that was most apparent in the factorial analysis of the GOHAI had coefficients > 0.30 for the 12 items. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of simple adequacy was 0.81 and the Bartlett's sphericity test was 1,748.55 with 66 degrees of freedom (P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in the GOHAI scores between the responses to self-perception of oral and general health (P < 0.001). Also, there was a statistically significant low correlation coefficient between the missing and filled components of the DMFT index and the number of healthy and functional teeth (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The GOHAI has acceptable psychometric properties, discriminates between self-perception of oral health and self-perception of general health, and correlates with past caries experience measured by the DMFT index.