DYSPEPSIA - HOW SHOULD WE MEASURE IT

This study developed and validated a multidimensional measure of dyspe psia. A questionnaire was administered to 126 patients with dyspepsia who presented far care at a VA outpatient clinic and a family physicia n's private office. Dyspepsia-specific health was measured by self-rep ort using: (1) an existing dyspepsia scale that produces an aggregate score by summing ratings across pain and non-pain symptoms; (2) adapta tions of two scales originally designed to measure back pain; and (3) a new scale measuring satisfaction with dyspepsia-related health. Gene ric health was measured using the SF-36. Results from factor analysis revealed four dimensions of dyspepsia-related health: pain intensity, pain disability, non-pain symptoms, and satisfaction with dyspepsia-re lated health. After refinements, scales representing the four dimensio ns conformed to psychometric standards for reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. The importance of measuring dyspepsia usin g a multidimensional approach was confirmed by demonstrating that clas sification of dyspepsia severity depended on the dimension that was as sessed. We conclude that dyspepsia is best measured using a multidimen sional approach. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.