Reliability of self-reported medical questionnaires in dental settings compared to medical records: a comparative study

Objectives To compare diagnoses from self-reported medical questionnaires in dental clinics with diagnoses documented in existing medical files. Materials and Methods We compared 276 self-reported medical questionnaires from dental clinics to diagnoses in their medical files. The study group included 185 patients over the age of 35 who had dental and general medical records from the same tertiary institute. The control group included 91 patients under 35 years with corresponding medical records. The "Discrepancy in general diagnoses" model compared any diagnosis recorded in the medical (MED) system with those in the dental (DENT) system. The "Cumulative number of diagnoses model" compared the number of agreed values between the two systems for each patient. Results Agreement for diagnoses significantly decreased with age (p = 0.000) and was found to be higher for women (p = 0.048) as compared to men. Specific diagnoses with significantly low agreement values between the two systems in relation to age were hypertension (p = 0.034), diabetes (p = 0.018) and regular medications (p = 0.029). The two systems demonstrated varying levels of agreement across different aspects of health assessment, with significant differences for age and gender. Conclusions Dentists should reconsider self-reported health questionnaires since their reliability seems to be limited, mainly with increasing age. A more cautious approach could be to ask for medical records prior to dental treatment. Clinical Relevance: This study evaluated the reliability of self-reported questionnaires, an issue of significant clinical relevance considering its impact on the ability to form an accurate clinical picture of the patients and provide them with optimal care.