BACKGROUND: Systematic characterization of the dental consequences of @entity888 (MA) abuse presupposes a rigorous quality assurance (QA) program to ensure the credibility of the data collected and the scientific integrity and validity of the clinical study. In this report we describe and evaluate the performance of a quality assurance program implemented in a large cross-sectional study of the dental consequences of MA use. METHODS: A large community sample of MA users was recruited over a 30  month period during 2011-13 and received comprehensive oral examinations and psychosocial assessments by site examiners based at two large community health centers in Los Angeles. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) protocols for oral health assessments were utilized to characterize @entity7291 . Using NHANES oral health quality assurance guidelines, examiner reliability statistics such as Cohen's Kappa coefficients and inter-class correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the magnitude of agreement between the site examiners and a reference examiner to ensure conformance and comparability with NHANES practices. RESULTS: Approximately 9  % (n   =   49) of the enrolled 574 MA users received a repeat dental caries and periodontal examination conducted by the reference examiner. There was high concordance between the reference examiner and the site examiners for identification of untreated @entity7291 (Kappa statistic values: 0.57-0.75, percent agreement 83-88  %). For identification of untreated caries on at least 5 surfaces of anterior teeth, the Kappas ranged from 0.77 to 0.87, and percent agreement from 94 to 97  %. The intra-class coefficients (ICCs) ranged from 0.87 to 89 for @entity6730 across all periodontal sites assessed and the ICCs ranged from 0.79 to 0.81 for pocket depth. For overall @entity1464 , the ICCs ranged from 0.88 to 0.91. When Kappa was calculated based on the CDC/AAP case definitions for severe @entity2521 , inter-examiner reliability for site examiners was low (Kappa 0.27-0.67). CONCLUSION: Overall, the quality assurance program confirmed the procedural adherence of the quality of the data collected on the distribution of @entity2520 in MA-users. Examiner concordance was higher for dental caries but lower for specific periodontal assessments.

Performance of a quality assurance program for assessing dental health in XXXX users.

@entity6730 :: ('MESH:D017622', 'Disease') :: ['attachment loss'] @entity1464 :: ('MESH:D005889', 'Disease') :: ['gingival recession'] @entity888 :: ('MESH:D008694', 'Chemical') :: ['methamphetamine'] @entity2520 :: ('MESH:D010510', 'Disease') :: ['dental caries and periodontal disease'] @entity2521 :: ('MESH:D010518', 'Disease') :: ['periodontitis'] @entity7291 :: ('MESH:D009057', 'Disease') :: ['dental disease']
@entity888 :: (MESH:D008694,Chemical) :: ['methamphetamine']
