title: Development of a frequent heartburn index.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to develop and validate a brief instrument for the measurement of overall psychosocial impact of frequent heartburn (heartburn experienced 2+ times weekly) in the general U.S. population, yielding a single, composite score.
  
  
  METHODS
  Item reduction and psychometric analyses of an existing Frequent Heartburn (FHB) Survey, a 52-item, 13-domain, patient-reported outcomes (PRO) survey assessing the impact of frequent heartburn on psychosocial quality of life.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Item reduction resulted in 9 items from the original FHB Survey measuring all domains. All retained items in this full Frequent Heartburn Index (FHBI-Full) had moderate to strong factor loadings on the underlying factor (range: 0.66-0.85) and acceptable overall model fit (CFI = 0.93, SRMR = 0.04). Coefficient alpha was 0.92. A shorter FHBI (FHBI-Brief) was created that excludes the two employment-related items. The FHBI-Brief had a coefficient alpha of 0.90.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both FHBI versions have good psychometric properties and capture a full range of psychosocial effects of frequent heartburn. Normed national scores for the FHBI are available against which an individual can compare their own FHBI score. The FHBI-Full and FHBI-Brief show promise as PRO instruments that may help individuals and clinicians better understand the effect of frequent heartburn on psychosocial functioning.
authors.affiliation: United BioSource Corporation, 7101 Wisconsin Ave, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. Donald.Stull@unitedbiosource.com
authors.forename: Donald E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Stull
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Hanswijck de Jonge
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Houghton
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kocun
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Sandor
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006356:Heartburn / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology