Beck J D
Department of Dental Ecology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599, USA.
Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1998 Aug;26(4):220-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1998.tb01954.x.
As our knowledge of dental caries and periodontal diseases has increased, our perspective has changed from viewing these diseases as ubiquitous to one which sees a variety of risk profiles in a population. Now, from a perspective of assigning risk, caries and periodontitis can be thought to be more like some of our common medical conditions, i.e., certain people or subgroups of the population are at higher risk than others and that prevention and intervention involve a combination of personal behaviors and professional practices. Research into risk assessment, however, is often hampered by confusing and ambiguous use of terminology. This commentary proposes some specific definitions for terms used in risk assessment in dentistry. These terms include risk factor, risk indicator, demographic risk factor, risk predictor (risk marker), prognostic factor, risk model, and prediction model.
随着我们对龋齿和牙周疾病的了解不断增加，我们的观点已从将这些疾病视为普遍存在转变为认识到人群中存在各种风险状况。如今，从风险评估的角度来看，龋齿和牙周炎可以被认为更类似于我们的一些常见疾病，即某些人群或亚组比其他人群面临更高的风险，而且预防和干预需要个人行为和专业措施相结合。然而，风险评估研究常常因术语使用混乱和模糊而受阻。本评论为牙科风险评估中使用的术语提出了一些具体定义。这些术语包括风险因素、风险指标、人口统计学风险因素、风险预测指标（风险标志物）、预后因素、风险模型和预测模型。
