Testing and validation of the Russian version of quality of life questionnaire in patients with GERD - GERD-HRQL

Aim. This study aimed to test the Russian version of GERD-HRQL in the focus group of patients with GERD, as well as to evaluate its psychometric properties - reliability, validity and sensitivity. Materials and methods. The total of 57 patients with GERD (mean age - 45.8 +/- 12.4 years, 72% - women, 68% - patients with not erosive reflux disease, 84% had esophageal manifestations of GERD) were enrolled into the study. All the patients filled out the Russian version of GERD-HRQL and generic quality of life questionnaire RAND SF-36 during the routine visit to the gastroenterologist. According to the results of testing of GERD-HRQL, it was clear and easy to complete for patients and reflected the main concerns specific for GERD patients. The most frequent and bothersome symptoms/problems which interfered with quality of life in GERD patients were heartburn (100% of patients) and bloating (84% of patients). During the validation procedure, the high reliability and validity of the Russian version of GERD-HRQL were demonstrated. It was shown that the tool was sensitive both to changes over time and to clinically determined differences in patients' status. Results. The Total GERD-HRQL Score was significantly higher (worse quality of life) in the following groups: a) patients who had esophageal manifestations of GERB vs those without esophageal manifestations of GERB; b) patients with GERD complications vs those without GERD complications, c) patients with comorbidities of upper gastrointestinal tract vs without those comorbidities; d) patients with erosive esophagitis vs with non-erosive reflux disease (p<0.05). Conclusion. The developed Russian version of the GERD-HRQL questionnaire proved to have high psychometric properties and may be used in the Russian population of GERD patients both in research studies and in a real clinical practice.