A new questionnaire for gastroesophageal reflux disease.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a questionnaire to measure gastroesophageal reflux disease in the community and to test its reliability and validity.


METHODS
The reliability of the questionnaire was measured by a test-retest procedure in 38 outpatients and 77 community residents 25 to 74 years of age, whereas concurrent validity was evaluated by comparing findings from a physician interview with self-report data from 51 patients. For statistical analysis of the reliability of each question, the kappa statistic and the 95% confidence interval were calculated.


RESULTS
The questionnaire was easy to understand and well accepted. The reliability (median kappa for outpatients, 0.70 [interquartile range, 0.59 to 0.81]; median kappa for population sample, 0.70 [interquartile range, 0.60 to 0.81]) and validity (median kappa, 0.62 [interquartile range, 0.49 to 0.74]) were acceptable.


CONCLUSIONS
Our initial results suggest that this questionnaire is valid and should be applicable in population-based studies to assess gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Locke
G R
GR
Division of Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota 55905.
Talley
N J
NJ
Weaver
A L
AL
Zinsmeister
A R
AR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires