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Statistical Properties of Some Clinical Measures of Gingivitis and Periodontitis
Author(s) -
Fleiss Joseph L.,
Turgeon Livia,
Chilton Neal W.,
Listgarten Max A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of periodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.036
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1943-3670
pISSN - 0022-3492
DOI - 10.1902/jop.1990.61.4.201
Subject(s) - kurtosis , skewness , gingivitis , mathematics , dentistry , normality , statistics , normal distribution , periodontitis , medicine , orthodontics
V arious statistical properties of the plaque index, the gingival index, and the wholemouth averages of pocket depth and attachment level measurements were examined using data from a 4‐year randomized trial of 80 patients with a history of treated periodontal disease. Departures from normality were assessed by the median of the standardized distribution, by the coefficients of skewness and kurtosis, and by the Kolmogorov goodness‐of‐fit test. The relative precisions of probing pocket depth and of attachment level were measured, as were correlations between repeated measurements over time for the four clinical measures. The distribution of the plaque index was far from normal, but the distribution of its logarithm was more nearly normal. The distributions of the other clinical measures were effectively normal to varying degrees of approximation. With only rare exceptions, correlations between repeated measurements on the same clinical variable remained relatively constant no matter how far apart in time the measurements were made, at least up to 4 years. The whole‐mouth mean of the attachment level measurements seemed to be relatively more precise than the whole‐mouth mean of the pocket depth measurements. J Periodontol 1990;61:201–205.