Construct Validity of the Pediatric Rome III Criteria

Abstract

Children with a Rome III diagnosis had significantly more gastrointestinal and nongastrointestinal complaints, and greater intensity of symptoms and disability than children without an FGID diagnosis. The study suggests that the Rome III pediatric criteria have adequate construct validity.

Prevalence of functional GI disorders among pediatric patients with persistent asthma

“…This questionnaire has a parent and child self‐reported version and was developed to assess symptoms associated with FGID . It has been previously validated for use in both English and Spanish . It was modified to include FGID superior to the umbilicus, including upper functional abdominal pain disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional abdominal pain syndrome, functional abdominal pain and functional dyspepsia, as well as other functional upper GI tract disorders, such as aerophagia, cyclic vomiting syndrome and adolescent rumination syndrome.…”

“…7 It has been previously validated for use in both English and Spanish. 7,8 It was modified to include FGID superior to the umbilicus, including upper functional abdominal pain disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional abdominal pain syndrome, functional abdominal pain and functional dyspepsia, as well as other functional upper GI tract disorders, such as aerophagia, cyclic vomiting syndrome and adolescent rumination syndrome. The questionnaire includes scoring instructions with diagnostic criteria for each FGID, based on provisional recommendations by the Rome-III Child and Adolescent Committee.…”

Functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome in teenagers: Internet survey

“…Because this was a community survey, we were unable to exclude possible organic disorders that might have been responsible for the reported symptoms. Given that the pediatric Rome III criteria have been validated, the questions used in this study were considered suitable for assessing childhood FD and IBS. Use of an unvalidated questionnaire for assessing lifestyle and non‐GI symptoms, however, could be considered a study limitation, although we carefully prepared it with reference to a prior Japanese adulthood FGID survey conducted by Miwa .…”

“…The abdominal pain‐related FGID, which are further classified into functional dyspepsia (FD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), abdominal migraine, childhood functional abdominal pain, and childhood functional abdominal pain syndrome, are common reasons for medical consultation in children . Only a handful of surveys, however, have investigated the epidemiology of childhood abdominal pain‐related FGID based on the pediatric Rome III criteria, and consequently the lifestyle characteristics of affected patients have not been fully clarified.…”

Recommendations for pharmacological clinical trials in children with irritable bowel syndrome: the Rome foundation pediatric subcommittee on clinical trials

“…The Rome criteria have been widely accepted and used in RCT of children with FGIDs. While there is evidence of the construct validity of the Rome III criteria, there is also conflicting evidence on the reliability of these criteria . The Rome III criteria were found to be sensitive but their specificity has been put into question .…”