Role of psychological questionnaires in clinical practice and research within functional gastrointestinal disorders

Functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, also known as disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI), affect 40% of the global population. Up to two-thirds of patients with FGIDs experience a major psychological disorder making a thorough psychosocial assessment a critical part of patient care as it can impact treatment approach. Many psychological questionnaires exist in the clinical realm serving different purposes including screening for anxiety and depression, somatization symptoms, health-related anxiety, illness impact, and health-related quality of life. Given the abundance of questionnaires used to screen for similar psychiatric comorbidities, correlation between different instruments is needed to allow for pooling of data. In this issue of Neurogastroenterology & Motility, Snijkers et al. conducted the first comparative study to assess the correlation between the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to determine optimal cutoffs for diagnosis of depressive and anxiety disorders in a cohort of irritable bowel syndrome patients. The biopsychosocial framework as it applies to FGID has led to the inclusion of both psychosocial assessments in clinical management and research protocols. Future directions include the development of symptom-specific questionnaires for groups of FGIDs, culturally specific psychosocial questionnaires, and inclusion of psychosocial well-being as primary or secondary outcomes in clinical research trials. In this review, we aim to explore the role of psychological questionnaires in clinical care and research trials and share practical tips on incorporating a biopsychosocial framework in the care of patients with FGIDs.