Instruments used to measure the quality of life related to oral health: integrated review

ABSTRACT This study aimed to identify the instruments used to measure the quality of life related to oral health (HRQoL) as well as the measures that were adapted for the Portuguese language of Brazil. This is an integrative review whose inclusion criteria were papers in Portuguese, English and Spanish, published and indexed in databases Medline (PubMed) and Virtual Health Library (BVS). One thousand two hundred and sixty papers submitted, fifty-five were considered eligible for review, from which the following information was extracted: instrument; composition; community; sample size; measured domains / dimensions; and author, year, country. Subsequently, the data related to the translation and cultural adaptation processes for the Portuguese language of Brazil were collected in order to evaluate the psychometric properties of each study. The studies of this review show that the HRQoL theme has remained in evidence since the creation of the first instruments and seems not to be close to being exhausted. Of the 36 instruments presented, only 17 articles were identified in the databases assessed for cross-cultural adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese and validation of psychometric properties. Thus, despite the enormous dissemination of instruments, the need for translation, adaptation in the language and analysis of psychometric properties was pointed out in this study.