Linguistic and Transcultural Validation of the Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease Questionnaire for a Spanish Population Maria del Carmen Pérez-Alonso1| Ana Regla-Domínguez, Especialista en Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria2 | José Sánchez-Blancona3| Manuel Romero-Gómez4	PDF File
1 Centro de Salud Don Paulino García Donas, Sevilla, Spain 2 Centro de Salud de Arahal,Sevilla, Spain 3 Distrito Sanitario Sevilla Sur, Unidad de Calidad y Procesos, Sevilla, Spain 4 Unidad de gestión clínica, Hospital Universitario de Valme, Enfermedades Digestivas y Ciberehd, Sevilla, Spain

Abstract

This study aims to describe the linguistic and transcultural validation of a Spanish version of a questionnaire for diagnosing gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD).In this study participated a total of 10 patients of both sexes (6 women and 4 men) with an average time of diagnosis of GERD of 3.8 years. Following a forward and backward translation to Spanish of the questionnaire, the participants completed it, and a cognitive debriefing was conducted to evaluate their understanding of the items and response choices.The Spanish version of the GERD questionnaire appears to be linguistically and culturally valid to diagnose the GERD. 

Introduction

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a chronic condition with a highly variable prevalence and incidence. Pyrosis, the cardinal symptom of GERD, has a prevalence of 10-48% in the general population1. In Spain, the prevalence of GERD, defined as the presence of pyrosis for 2 or more days a week, is 15.6% 2. In other studies however, which define the disease as the presence of pyrosis or acid reflux of any intensity or frequency, a higher annual prevalence of 31.6% has been reported in Spain 3. The presence of GERD symptoms has a significant impact on health services and quality of life 4-6. There are various methods for establishing a diagnosis of GERD, although none are considered as a standard diagnostic test. Questionnaires, especially self-administered, have been shown to be a good, cost-effective screening method in patients with gastrointestinal tract disorders 7-9.