Oral Health-Related Quality of Life
Also written as: OHRQoL — Oral Health-Related Quality of Life
A multidimensional patient-reported outcome measure capturing the impact of oral conditions and treatments on an individual's functional, psychosocial, and pain-related wellbeing.
Full Definition
Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) is a construct used in dental research to evaluate how oral health status affects a patient's daily functioning, social interactions, psychological wellbeing, and experience of pain or discomfort. Common validated instruments include the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-49 and its short form OHIP-14), the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ), and the General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). In editing, the acronym OHRQoL should be defined at first use, and authors must specify which validated instrument was used and in which language or culturally adapted version. Editors should ensure that the subscale scores (e.g., functional limitation, psychological discomfort) are labelled consistently between the methods, results, and discussion sections.
Usage
Usage note: Hyphenate as a compound modifier when preceding a noun: 'oral health-related quality-of-life score.' The acronym OHRQoL is standard; HRQoL (without the 'O') refers to the broader health measure and should not be used interchangeably.
In Context
- "Oral Health-Related Quality of Life was the primary patient-reported outcome, assessed using the OHIP-14 questionnaire at baseline and six months." — Randomised trial protocol
- "The discussion should contextualise the OHRQoL findings relative to the validated minimally important difference for the OHIP-14." — Manuscript editor's note