Abstract
Purpose：The Oral Health Assessment Tool （OHAT）, developed by Chalmers et al., is a simple oral health screening tool to assess oral health in dependent elderly individuals. It consists of eight items of oral health with three score levels for each. We developed a Japanese version of OHAT （OHAT-J）, and examined its reliability and validity.
Methods：A total of 60 subjects were enrolled in this study from an elderly nursing facility （mean age：83.0±8.5 years old） and the neurology impatient unit of a university hospital （mean age：69.4±13.3 years old）. In both facilities, dental hygienists （DH） and nursing and care staff assessed the oral health of the participants using OHAT-J. Oral assessment with standardized oral examinations was performed by an experienced dentist. Inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity of OHAT-J were statistically tested.
Results：While percent agreement was high for saliva or soft tissues （more than 75％）, it was low for oral cleanliness （mean 50％）. All the OHAT categories had moderate or high correlations （0.39–0.97） with the other standardized oral assessment items.
Conclusion：The results showed that OHAT-J had high reliability and validity, suggesting that it may be a useful oral screening tool for dependent elderly individuals in nursing facilities or hospitals.
