Construction and validation of a gastroesophageal reflux symptom scale

the general population, but there is a lack of information about its preval ence and valid and reliable scales to determine it. Aim: To design a valid and reliable scale To determine gastroesophageal reflux disease. Subjects a nd methods: A Cross-sectional study with patients and controls was conducte d. The diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux was based of clinical plus radi ological, endoscopic or pathologic criteria. A structured questionnaire was built, containing items covering different clinical manifestations of gast roesophageal reflux disease. All subjects were subjected to 24 h esophageal pH monitoring. Internal consistency of items, interobserver reliability, c riterion and construct validity, sensitivity, specificity and predicted val ues were obtained. Results: One hundred thirteen subjects (74 female and 39 male with a mean age of 46 years old) were studied. Seventy three had gast roesophageal reflux and 40 were controls. Internal consistency of the score was 0.82. Inter observer reliability was greater than 0.80 and a significa nt association was observed between the score and 24 h esophageal pH monito ring (p <0.001). Instrument sensitivity was 97% and specificity 83%. Conclu sions: The designed scale proved to be a valid and reliable instrument to m easure gastroesophageal reflux symptoms, that can be used for future preval ence studies.