Development of the Rome V Diagnostic Questionnaires.

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Clinical Epidemiology
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• The Rome criteria are foundational for diagnosing functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs).
• Previous versions, like Rome IV, established diagnostic questionnaires for adults and children.
• Ongoing refinement is necessary to improve diagnostic accuracy and research utility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development and validation of the Rome V diagnostic questionnaires for adults and children.
• To introduce key updates and improvements over the Rome IV versions.
• To assess the performance and suitability of the Rome V questionnaires for research.

Main Methods:

• Development of new adult and pediatric questionnaires based on Rome V criteria.
• Inclusion of improved response scaling, additional diagnostic questions, and anatomical images.
• International internet-based surveys to test adult (15 countries) and pediatric (4 countries) questionnaires.
• Analysis of questionnaire performance in identifying DGBI and demographic patterns.

Main Results:

• The Rome V questionnaires incorporate significant updates, including new questions for diagnosing additional DGBI and enhanced features for research clarity.
• International testing demonstrated that the Rome V questionnaires identify DGBI with similar efficacy and demographic correlations as Rome IV.
• The addition of anatomical images improved response accuracy in questionnaire completion.

Conclusions:

• The Rome V adult and pediatric diagnostic questionnaires represent a significant advancement for FGID research.
• These updated tools are well-suited for epidemiological and clinical studies in the current Rome V era.
• The findings support the continued use and adaptation of Rome criteria for FGID diagnosis and research.