Functional dyspepsia symptom diary is correlated with other questionnaires and associated with severity in patients with functional dyspepsia: a multicenter, prospective observational study

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Functional dyspepsia symptom diary (FDSD) is a newly designed questionnaire of functional dyspepsia (FD). The relationships between FDSD and other FD-related questionnaires and patient-reported severity remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the correlations between FDSD and other questionnaires and to determine the relationships between FDSD and FD severity. METHODS: Consecutive outpatients with FD were prospectively enrolled in four tertiary hospitals. All patients were evaluated by six FD-related questionnaires, including FDSD, Dyspepsia Symptom Severity Index (DSSI), Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale, Short-Form Nepean Dyspepsia Index, and Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Scale (HAMD and HAMA). The severity of FD was also graded as mild, moderate, and severe by patients themselves. Correlations between different scores were assessed by Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ), and risk factors for patient-reported severity were identified. RESULTS: For 512 enrolled FD patients, the overall median FDSD score was 19 (2-42). FDSD was well correlated with DSSI (ρ = 0.64) and fairly correlated with the other four scores (ρ = 0.32-0.55) (all P < 0.001). Mild, moderate, and severe FD were reported by 18.5%, 55.9%, and 25.6% of patients, respectively. There were seven factors associated with the severe FD, including education level, duration, and subtypes of FD, prior treatment, FDSD, HAMD, and HAMA scores (all P < 0.10). FDSD ≥ 20 (odds ratio [OR] 3.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.0-5.2, P < 0.001) and HAMD ≥ 13 (OR 2.9, 95% CI: 1.8-4.6, P < 0.001) were independently associated with patient-reported severe FD. CONCLUSIONS: This study firstly revealed that the newly developed FDSD correlated with other FD-related questionnaires. FDSD ≥ 20 and HAMD ≥ 13 were independently associated with severe FD reported by patients (clinicaltrials.gov number: NCT04953975).