No abstract

Gastroesophageal reflux is a very frequent condition and different questionnaires to describe it have been proposed overtime. Nevertheless available questionnaires don’t allow to fully describe all different aspects of the disease. The aim of this study was to validate a new questionnaire (RoRex) on gastroesophageal reflux disease. The RoRex questionnaire was administered via web in two Italian centres, Rovereto and Verona, to patients attending specialized gastrointestinal surgical units, and to volunteers. Up to now, 54 patients and 50 volunteers participated in the study. Median age was 52 years (range 23-75 years) in patients and 47.5 years (range 25-80 years) in volunteers. Women were more prevalent than men in both groups (57% and 56% respectively). The RoRex questionnaire comprises 15 questions, where symptoms are scored on a frequency base: no, sometimes, several times per week, every day. Information on smoking habits, alcohol use, diet was also collected. The two groups largely differed as regards major symptoms. Regurgitation, heartburn, epigastric pain, retrosternal pain, laryngospasm were reported several times per week/every day in 50%, 39%, 30%, 22%, 23% of patients and 9%, 11%, 7%, 7%, 0% of volunteers. Preliminary analysis showed a different pattern in principal components between patients and volunteers. The 1st component, comprising heartburn and epigastric/retrosternal pain, was similar in both groups. The 2nd component comprised reclage, peevish cough, hoarseness in patients, and postnasal drip, hoarseness, dysphagia in volunteers. The 3rd component included regurgitation/laryngospasm in the former and peevish cough/belching in the latter. The new questionnaire, based on symptom frequency, allows to distinguish among major symptoms, i.e. heartburn/pain, upper airways irritation, and regurgitation in patients suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease. These results, as well as the comparison of RoRex questionnaire with already validated ones and its usefulness as a screening tool in the general population, will be verified in larger samples.