SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, Room A-725, 3755 Cote Ste Catherine Road, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1E2, Canada.
J Rheumatol. 2011 Sep;38(9):1925-30. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.110060. Epub 2011 Jul 1.
The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Scleroderma Clinical Trial Consortium GI Tract Instrument (UCLA SCTC GITI) was recently developed to measure gastrointestinal tract disease in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Our study assesses the internal consistency and validity of the instrument in a different population than was used in the original study.
A sample of 113 consecutive patients with SSc from the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group (CSRG) Registry completed the UCLA SCTC GITI, a self-administered questionnaire with 7 scales and an overall score. Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and validity was determined by testing multiple constructs.
Our subjects were slightly older than the original cohort, and had less formal education and less diffuse cutaneous disease. The overall score of the instrument correlated well with the GI scale of the Health Assessment Questionnaire for the Spondyloarthropathies (GI-S-HAQ; r = 0.58, p < 0.001) and the total number of GI symptoms (r = 0.77, p < 0.001). Each subscale correlated well with the GI-S-HAQ. The individual scales and the overall score were able to differentiate between categorical groupings of the GI-S-HAQ. The scale scores differentiated well those patients with clinical involvement of the corresponding GI problem. Multiple linear regression adjusting for age, disease duration, sex, and ethnicity showed that the UCLA SCTC GITI had a significant association with both the physical component summary and the mental component summary of the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 questionnaire.
Our study confirms that the UCLA SCTC GITI version 2.0 will be a useful tool for assessing the role of GI involvement in SSc, even in a population with substantially different characteristics than the subjects originally tested.
加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）硬皮病临床试验联盟胃肠道仪器（UCLA SCTC GITI）最近被开发用于测量系统性硬化症（SSc）的胃肠道疾病。我们的研究评估了该仪器在与原始研究中使用的人群不同的人群中的内部一致性和有效性。
加拿大硬皮病研究组（CSRG）登记处的 113 例连续 SSc 患者完成了 UCLA SCTC GITI，这是一个自我管理的问卷，有 7 个量表和一个总体评分。使用 Cronbach 的 alpha 系数评估可靠性，通过测试多个结构确定有效性。
我们的研究对象比原始队列年龄稍大，受教育程度较低，弥漫性皮肤疾病较少。该仪器的总体评分与关节病性脊椎炎健康评估问卷的胃肠道量表（GI-S-HAQ；r = 0.58，p < 0.001）和胃肠道症状总数（r = 0.77，p < 0.001）相关性良好。每个子量表与 GI-S-HAQ 相关性良好。各个量表和总体评分能够区分 GI-S-HAQ 的分类分组。量表评分能够很好地区分那些具有相应胃肠道问题临床受累的患者。调整年龄、疾病持续时间、性别和种族的多元线性回归显示，UCLA SCTC GITI 与医疗结果研究简明健康调查问卷的身体成分摘要和心理成分摘要均有显著关联。
我们的研究证实，UCLA SCTC GITI 2.0 版将是评估 SSc 中胃肠道受累作用的有用工具，即使在与最初测试的人群具有明显不同特征的人群中也是如此。
