Critical Appraisal of Dental Descriptive Epidemiological Studies in Iran Published Between 1996-2009

In recent years, importance and researcher's enthusiasm of evidence-based studies has increased; thus, a survey and verification of previous studies is needed. In spite of the importance of descriptive epidemiological studies, a few critical appraisals and verifications have been done. To address this necessity, this paper aimed to survey and critically appraises dental epidemiological studies. Dental descriptive epidemiological studies in Iran published between 1996 and 2009 were selected and scored based on standard instruction consisted of eight criteria as following: 1) Sampling method, 2) Sampling frame, 3) Sample size, 4) Appropriate Measurement, 5) Unbiased measurement, 6) Response rate, 7) Confidence intervals, 8) Study subjects description. Among 91 papers, the maximum score was related to "Study subject’s description" that 72 papers obtained it. In contrary, the minimum score was related to "Response rate" which only 2 papers obtained it. Surprisingly, the average total score of the 91 papers was only 2.64 out of 8. In these studies, the common mistakes were non-random sampling, unidentified sampling frame, and vague method of sample size computation. In spite of correct measurement criteria, most of the studies had not described them clearly. To conduct epidemiological studies which provide a clear and documented description of a real situation, improving the quality of the papers seems necessary. Considering the neglected criteria and correction of common mistakes are essential; Consequently, the future studies may present correct, trustworthy, and clear status of the problems.