Quality of life assessment with SIBDQ in children with upper gastrointestinal pathology

Functional and organic diseases of the digestive system today occupy one of the leading places in the structure of somatic pathology of childhood and adolescence and negatively impact young patients’ quality of life. Among the gastrointestinal tract diseases, the first place is occupied by the pathology of the gastroduodenal zone in children. Gastrointestinal diseases rarely occur in isolation in the form of damage to only the upper or lower parts of the digestive system, especially in childhood. Therefore, in the presence of dysfunction symptoms and pathological changes in the upper gastrointestinal tract, it is advisable to use non‑invasive means to diagnose pathological changes in the lower gastrointestinal tract. Objective — to analyze the quality of life using the Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ) in children and adolescents with upper gastrointestinal tract pathologies. Materials and methods. The study involved 174 children who visited the Kharkiv city children’s clinical hospital No 19 with complaints about upper gastrointestinal disorders (7—18 years old). Patients were interviewed using the self‑reported inflammatory bowel disease quality of life questionnaire SIBDQ, which assesses physical, social and emotional well‑being (the result is determined from 10 to 70 points, where 10 is the worst condition). Results. The median SIBDQ score for the entire sample was 51 points [Q1; Q3: 45; 58], with 47.1±3.7% of respondents having up to 50 points. In girls, the median was significantly lower than in boys — 49 [40; 55] versus 55 [49.0; 65.5] (pU=0.05). According to the nature of the endoscopic picture, 55% of children with gastroesophageal and duodenogastric reflux, 38.6% of children with erythematous duodenopathy, 45.9% of children with erosive and ulcerative changes and 61.5% of patients with esophagitis had a low SIBDQ score. Boys with low SIBDQ scores were more prone to gastroesophageal and duodenogastric reflux. All other endoscopic changes were significantly more common (p <0.05) in girls with less than 50 points according to the survey results. Conclusions. In 47% of children with complaints of upper gastrointestinal dysfunction, the quality of life score was low by the SIBDQ (< 50). The median SIBDQ score in girls was significantly lower than in boys: 49 [40; 55] versus 55 [49.0; 65.5] points (pU=0.05), respectively. Girls with instrumentally confirmed esophagitis had significantly lower SIBDQ scores compared to boys with esophagitis and girls with other gastrointestinal disorders — 41.5 [37; 46] (p <0.05). The use of the SIBDQ questionnaires in school‑age children and adolescents is advisable not only for lower gastrointestinal tract diseases but also for gastroduodenal zone diseases.