title: A Romanian version of the UCLA Scleroderma Clinical Trial Consortium Gastrointestinal Tract Instrument.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  UCLA Scleroderma Clinical Trial Consortium Gastrointestinal Tract (UCLA SCTC GIT 2.0) Instrument is a comprehensive, self-administered survey for the assessment of gastrointestinal involvement in scleroderma patients, developed and validated in English. Our objective was to translate and validate a Romanian version of UCLA SCTC GIT 2.0.
  
  
  METHODS
  Translation from English into Romanian has been made using the forward-backward method. Sixty-four patients, attending a referral centre as part of an extensively studied cohort, were approached in a consecutive manner over a period of two years for administration of the questionnaire. We evaluated the reproducibility, internal consistency, construct validity and discriminative capacity of the translation (Romanian GIT).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-four patients returned completed questionnaires. Internal consistency was demonstrated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.931). Construct validity is supported by moderate, but significant correlations of Romanian GIT total score with the Mental Component Summary (MCS) of SF-36 (r=0.541, Spearman correlation) and among subscales, by significant correlations with SHAQ total score (r=0.559, Spearman correlation) and by strong correlations with gastrointestinal subscale of SHAQ (SHAQ GI) (r=0.726, Spearman correlation). Reproducibility was good as well. Divergent validity was supported by significant differences between patients with or without a clinical diagnosis of gastrointestinal disease. Other differences in the Romanian GIT total score were tested among subgroups of patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Romanian GIT has acceptable reliability and validity. This questionnaire can be used for the assessment of gastrointestinal involvement in scleroderma patients.
authors: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. marilena.gorga@hotmail.com.
authors: Marilena
authors: M
authors: Gorga
authors: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, and Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, "Dr. I. Cantacuzino" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Carina
authors: C
authors: Mihai
authors: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, and Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, "Dr. I. Cantacuzino" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Alina-Mihaela
authors: AM
authors: Soare
authors: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, and Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, "Dr. I. Cantacuzino" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Rucsandra
authors: R
authors: Dobrotă
authors: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, and Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, "Dr. I. Cantacuzino" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Ana-Maria
authors: AM
authors: Gherghe
authors: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, and Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, "Dr. I. Cantacuzino" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Victor
authors: V
authors: Stoica
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012383:Romania; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014175:Translating