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

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.

The total of 57 patients with GERD (mean age 45.812.4 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.

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 (p0.05).

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.