Effect of patient age awareness on diagnostic agreement of chronic or aggressive periodontitis between clinicians; a pilot study

Background: The aim of this pilot study was to test whether diagnostic agreement of aggressive and chronic periodontitis amongst Board Certified Periodontists, is influenced by knowledge of a patient's age. In 1999 at the International World Workshop age was removed as a diagnostic criteria for aggressive periodontitis. The impact of this change on the diagnostic reliability amongst clinicians has not yet been assessed. Methods: Nine periodontal case reports were twice presented to sixteen board certified periodontists, once with age withheld and again with patient age provided. Participants were instructed to choose a diagnosis of Chronic Periodontitis or Aggressive Periodontitis. Diagnostic agreement was calculated using the Fleiss Kappa test. Results: Including the patients' age in case report information increased diagnostic agreement (the kappa statistic) from 0.49 (moderate agreement) to 0.61 (substantial agreement). Conclusion: These results suggest that knowledge of a patients' age influenced clinical diagnosis, when distinguishing between aggressive periodontitis and chronic periodontitis, which may in turn impact treatment decision-making.