Search

An adult population of 1275 subjects aged 25, 35, 50, and 65 yr were examined clinically with respect to their periodontal and caries situation. An interview and questionnaire were used to chart the following variables: dietary and oral hygiene habits, social factors, appreciation of natural teeth, and use and availability of dental services. The associations between the risk factors and the probability of periodontal pocketing (≥4 mm) or abundant dental caries (≥7 lesions) among the dentate population were examined using a logistic regression model. The final model correctly classified periodontal pocketing in 65% of the cases and abundant caries in 76%. In addition to social variables, behavioral factors were found to be significantly associated with periodontal pocketing and abundant untreated dental caries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vähänikkilä H, Miettunen J, Tjäderhane L, Larmas M, Nieminen P. The use of time-to-event methods in dental research: a comparison based on five dental journals over a 11-year period. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2012; 40 (Suppl. 1): 36-42. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S Abstract - Objectives: Time-to-event methods are used in multivariate data analysis to describe the relationship between patient variables and the timing of an outcome event. The aims of this study were to evaluate the reporting of statistical techniques and results in dental research papers with special reference to time-to-event (TTE) methods and to create guidelines for the appropriate reporting of these methods. Methods: All the original research reports published in five dental journals in 1996, 2001, 2005, 2006, and 2007 were reviewed. The evaluation covered 1985 articles that were based on the systematic collection and statistical analysis of research data. Differences between TTE approaches and others were assessed in terms of the justification for the number of cases, description of procedures, statistical references, software used, and statistical figures and tables provided. Results: Fifty-six papers (2.8% of the total) used time-to-event methods, the frequency of which increased slightly from 1996 to 2007 ( P = 0.061). Statistical procedures were described more extensively in the papers, which used TTE methods. Reporting of the statistical methodology in papers using other methods was in general inadequate. Conclusions: TTE methods are underused in dental research. Authors could well take heed of these results when designing their research, so as to make more use of such methods and to present the results in a manner that is in line with the policy and presentation of the leading dental journals. Authors could also improve their statistical reporting with the help of the guidelines presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]