The Visceral Sensitivity Index: development and validation of a gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety scale.
BACKGROUND
Anxiety related to gastrointestinal sensations, symptoms or the contexts in which these may occur is thought to play a significant role in the pathophysiology as well as in the health outcomes of patients with irritable bowel syndrome.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a valid and reliable psychometric instrument that measures gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety.


METHODS
External and internal expert panels as well as a patient focus group evaluated a large pool of potential item stems gathered from the psychological and gastrointestinal literature. Potential scale items were then administered to 96 patients diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome along with a set of validating questionnaires. Final item selection was based upon rigorous empirical criteria and the psychometric properties of the final scale were examined.


RESULTS
A final unidimensional 15-item scale, the Visceral Sensitivity Index, demonstrated excellent reliability as well as good content, convergent, divergent and predictive validity.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that the Visceral Sensitivity Index is a reliable, valid measure of gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety that may be useful for clinical assessment, treatment outcome studies, and mechanistic studies of the role of symptom-related anxiety in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
Labus
J S
JS
Center for Neurovisceral Sciences and Women's Health, VA GLA Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA.
Bolus
R
R
Chang
L
L
Wiklund
I
I
Naesdal
J
J
Mayer
E A
EA
Naliboff
B D
BD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D014781:Viscera