title: Development and validation of a disease-specific quality of life questionnaire for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease: the GERD-QOL questionnaire.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A simple and meaningful health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients is lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To develop and validate a disease-specific HRQoL instrument (GERD-QOL) for GERD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  An 18-item questionnaire was generated to measure the impact of GERD on sleep, exercise, diet, need for medication, sex life, work, social activity and psychological well-being. GERD patients were invited to complete the GERD-QOL, a visual analogue scale (VAS) and a validated Chinese generic QoL (SF-36) questionnaire before and after esomeprazole treatment. Factor analysis was performed for item selection and psychometric properties were measured. An English version was developed by a forward-backward translation process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A final 16-item GERD-QOL questionnaire was developed. The items were grouped into four subscales (Daily activity, Treatment effect, Diet, and Psychological well-being) after factor analysis. GERD-QOL had good item-internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.64-0.88), high test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.73-0.94, P < 0.001). Its subscale scores were correlated with SF-36 and VAS, which demonstrated high construct validity (P < 0.001). Discriminant validity was verified by correlating GERD-QOL scores with symptom severity (P < 0.001). Responsiveness after esomeprazole treatment was significant (paired-t-test P < 0.001). An English version of GERD-QOL was developed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The instrument, GERD-QOL, is valid and reliable.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Digestive Disease, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: J Y L
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Ching
authors.forename: C M Y
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: K K F
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Tsoi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polder-Verkiel
authors.forename: S H Y
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kee
authors.forename: F K L
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: J J Y
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: J C Y
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*