Validation of the Brazilian Oral Health Literacy-Adults Questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Recognizing that a deficit of reading and numeracy skills is associated with poorer oral health, contemporary researchers have identified additional components as important attributes of oral health literacy (OHL). So, the use of comprehensive functional OHL tools is crucial. The Oral Health Literacy-Adults Questionnaire (OHL-AQ) evaluates reading comprehension, numeracy, listening and decision-making skills. OBJECTIVE: Describe the validation process of the OHL-AQ Brazilian version (BOHL-AQ). METHODS: The cross-culturally adapted version, BOHL-AQ, was applied to 180 employees age 18 to 71 years (mean = 37.2; standard deviation [SD] = 11.7) from a private university located in the Southeast of Brazil. Psychometric properties were evaluated through the analysis of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), reproducibility (test-retest), convergent validity (BREALD-30; education level), discriminant validity (family income; dental services), predictive validity (self-perception; literacy questions) and construct validity (Exploratory Factor Analysis). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) evaluated the dimensionality of the BOHL-AQ, with Promax method for rotation. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics software and the Mplus program. KEY RESULTS: BOHL-AQ mean score = 11.84 (SD = 3.1); administration mean time = 8 minutes (SD = 1.6); good internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.73) and excellent reproducibility (kappa = 0.89; intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.97). Preliminary tests showed that data were suitable for PCA (Kayser-Meyer-Olkin measure = 0.75; Barlett's Test of Sphericity significant [p < .001]). CFA showed that the instrument had a four-factor solution with excellent model fit estimates (χ2 = 636.587154.16, p value = .00117, Comparative Fit Index = 0.9787, Tucker Lewis index = 0.97, and Root Mean Square Error of the Approximation = 0.03). BOHL-AQ high scores significantly correlated to high education level, dental visit within the last year and for preventive reason, more independence and self-confidence on reading and filling out health forms, and better oral health self-perception (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The BOHL-AQ showed to be a fast and reliable instrument to assess a comprehensive functional OHL at Brazilian community and clinical settings. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2022;6(3):e224-e231.] Plain Language Summary: Recognizing the need of advancing knowledge related to OHL, this study aimed to describe the validation process of the BOHL-AQ. Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric properties evaluation presented satisfactory results. The BOHL-AQ proved to be a fast and valid instrument to measure comprehensive functional OHL in the Brazilian context.

TP53 codon 72 polymorphism in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a multifactorial neoplasm related to tobacco smoke, alcohol consumption and molecular genetic changes such as p53 mutations. The human tumor suppressor gene TP53 contains single nucleotide polymorphism that encodes either arginin (Arg) or proline (Pro) at amino acid codon 72 of the p53 protein. The relationship between human cancer susceptibility and p53 polymorphism at codon 72 is controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between this polymorphism and OSCC development in a Brazilian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-two patients with OSCC and 82 age-sex-matched controls were included in the study. DNA was extracted from all subjects' normal oral mucosa and the polymerase chain reaction amplification (PCR) was performed for detection of the TP53 genotypes. PCR products were analyzed in a 6.5% polycrylamide gel and silver-stained. Statistical analyses were performed with the chi 2 test and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: The frequencies of the genotypes Arg/Arg, Arg/Pro and Pro/Pro, were 37.8%, 54.8% and 7.4%, respectively, for OSCC cases and 40.2%, 54.8% and 4.9% for controls. No significant differences in the distribution of TP53 genotypes were seen between the groups (p = 0.794). CONCLUSION: The present study does not support the hypothesis that this TP53 polymorphism is associated with oral cancer susceptibility.