Performance of self-reported periodontitis questionnaire administered by community health workers

To evaluate the response and validity of a self-reported periodontal questionnaire administered by community health workers (CHWs) for severe periodontitis (SPER) screening.

CHWs administered the CDC/AAP questionnaire in their communities. Participants underwent a complete periodontal examination. Based on these data, SPER was evaluated considering three definitions: CDC/AAP, EFP/AAP, and the presence of two sextants with probing depth (PD)≥ 6 mm. Questionnaire performance was analysed using the chi-square test and logistic regression with an assessment of sensitivity (SS), specificity (SP) and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

In total, 243 individuals completed the questionnaire. The prevalence of SPER was 47.3%. When SPER patients were compared with the controls (using the CDC/AAP criteria), significant differences in the means of interproximal clinical attachment loss and PD values were observed (p < 0.05). Responses to three of the eight questions, "having gum disease" (odds ratio [OR] = 2.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.5-4.7), "general health of teeth and gums" (OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.2-0.9) and "tooth mobility" (OR 2.6, 95% CI = 1.5-4.7) were associated with SPER (p < 0.05). In the regression analysis, the best models to predict SPER were those that included all the self-reported questions and all sociodemographic variables either using CDC/AAP definitions (SS = 69.7%, SP = 80.3, ROC= 0.806) or the presence of two sextants with PD≥ 6 mm (SS = 82.1%, SP = 69.2, ROC = 0.861).

The CDC/AAP Self-reported periodontal questionnaire administered by CHWs to screen individuals for severe periodontitis was effectively capable of screening patients with this disease.