Hu et al developed a questionnaire for screening patients with dyspepsia. This can be used to initially evaluate the patient and then to monitor the patient over time. The authors are from the University of Hong Kong.
Patient selection: The patients were negative on endoscopy.
Symptoms included in the questionnaire:
(1) stomach pain
(2) upper abdominal bloating
(3) upper abdominal dull ache
(4) stomach pain before meals
(5) stomach pain when anxious
(6) vomiting
(7) nausea
(8) belching
(9) acid regurgitation
(10) heartburn
(11) feeling of acidity in stomach
(12) loss of appetite
Severity of Symptom
Points
asymptomatic
1
mild
2
moderate
3
severe
4
very severe
5
total score =
= SUM(points for all 12 symptoms)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 12
• maximum score: 60
• The higher the score, the more severe the symptoms of dyspepsia.
• The cutoff point selected was >= 16.
Performance:
• The sensitivity at the cutoff of >= 16 was 82% with a specificity of 83%.
• The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.89.
• Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency) was 0.82.
• The score was shown to have good construct and discriminant validity.
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