Responsiveness to change of the Malay-ECOHIS following treatment of early childhood caries under general anaesthesia

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the sensitivity and responsiveness of the Malay version of Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (Malay-ECOHIS) to dental treatment of early childhood caries (ECC) under general anaesthesia (GA) and determine the minimally important difference (MID) for the Malay-ECOHIS.

METHODS: A sample of 158 preschool children with ECC awaiting dental treatment under GA was recruited over an 8-month period. Parents self-completed the Malay-ECOHIS before and 4 weeks after their child's dental treatment. At 4 weeks follow-up, parents also responded to a global health transition judgement item. Data were analysed using independent and paired samples t tests, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficients.

RESULTS: The response rate was 87.3%. The final sample comprised 76 male (55.1%) and 62 female (44.9%) preschool children with mean age of 4.5 (SD = 1.0) years. Following treatment, there were significant reductions in mean scores for total Malay-ECOHIS, child impact section (CIS), family impact section (FIS) and all domains, respectively (P