Developing guidance for analysis and reporting of oral epidemiological studies to inform burden estimation

鉴于量化疾病负担在卫生政策中的突出作用，准确描述牙科疾病是一项基本责任。我们对全球疾病负担(GBD)研究的文献回顾显示，缺乏基本数据、一致性和与其他疾病的可比性，以及在测量牙齿状况方面的不正确和不完整的报告。在低收入和中等收入国家的研究中，这些问题更加突出。研究必须达到最高标准，因此这些努力不会浪费资源。此外，牙科疾病的负担是通过牙科指标来衡量的，这与一般健康指标不可同日而语。需要一种容易被大多数人理解的措施，而不仅仅是牙医。目前，还没有公开的可理解的标准来衡量和报告与其他疾病标准化和可比较的频率研究。这项提议的目标是编制一份易于理解的手册和清单，以便对天然牙齿的数量以及龋齿、牙周病和牙齿脱落的流行情况进行合理和可比较的测量和报告。指南和清单将根据国际标准分三个阶段制定。在第一阶段，研究小组将总结现有证据并审查现有标准，以产生一套核心项目，列入清单。第二阶段将涉及德尔福研究，这是一种在学术界和卫生政策领域的专家小组之间达成共识的方法。德尔福的研究将包括三轮在线问卷，旨在就清单中包括哪些项目达成一致。将对结果进行总结，并将其连同清单的更新版一起反馈给与会者，清单将根据收到的意见加以修订。在第三阶段，这些发现将在国际牙科会议的研讨会上、在伦敦国王学院主办的开放获取出版物和专门网站上公布。

Given the prominent role attached to quantification of disease burden for health policy, an accurate description of dental diseases constitutes an essential responsibility. Our reviews of the literature for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study showed a lack of primary data, consistency, and comparability with other diseases as well as incorrect and incomplete reporting in the measurement of dental conditions. These issues are more accentuated in studies from low-and-middle income countries. Studies must meet the highest standards, so these efforts do not waste resources. Furthermore, the burden of dental diseases has been measured by dental indicators, which are not comparable to general health metrics. There is a need for measures that are easily understood by most people, not just dentists. Currently, there is no published comprehensible criteria to measure and report frequency studies in a standardised and comparable way with other diseases. The goal of this proposal is to develop an easy-to-understand manual and checklist to inform on the sound and comparable measurement and reporting of the number of natural teeth and the prevalence of tooth decay, gum disease and tooth loss. The guideline and checklist will be developed in three phases according to international standards. During phase I, the research team will summarise the available evidence and review existing standards to produce a core set of items for inclusion in the checklist. Phase II will involve a Delphi study, which is a method to achieve consensus among a group of experts working in academia and health policy. The Delphi study will consist of three rounds of online questionnaires designed to agree on which items to include in the checklist. The results will be summarised and fed back to the participants along with the updated version of the checklist that will be revised in the light of the comments received. In phase III, the findings will be communicated during a workshop in an international dental conference, in an open access publication and a dedicated website hosted at King's College London.