Patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) tend to have poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, there is a dearth of data from India. Additionally, there is no validated disease-specific questionnaire to evaluate the HRQOL in Hindi-speaking patients. Therefore, Goyal and colleagues sought to develop and validate a Hindi translation of Short-Form Nepean Dyspepsia Index (SF-NDI), and to determine the impact of FD on HRQOL in the Indian setting.

Researchers did a cross-cultural adaptation of the English version of SF-NDI, translated it to Hindi, and performed an adaptation of the Hindi version using standard procedures. English and Hindi versions were evaluated against Short Form-36 (SF-36), and the researchers looked for internal consistency, test-retest reliability and validity.

• In all, 211 FD patients - 144 who spoke Hindi and 67 who spoke English - were included. The mean age was 40.8 ± 11.7 years and there were 115 males.
• Median total SF-NDI scores for the languages were 38.75 and 40.0, respectively.
• The test-retest reliability intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.85 for Hindi and 0.89 for English.
• Internal consistency evaluation showed Cronbachs α coefficient of 0.79-0.86 for Hindi and 0.78-0.89 for English.
• The correlation of SF-NDI sub-scales was moderate to good with various domains of SF-36 (content validity).
• Significant reduction in HRQOL was noted in patients with severe dyspepsia relative to patients with mild dyspepsia (construct validity).
• Multivariate analysis revealed that duration of symptoms and dyspepsia severity were independently associated with HRQOL.

Both English and Hindi versions of SF-NDI were found to be reliable and valid for the evaluation of HRQOL in Indian patients with FD.

Indian FD patients seem to have poor HRQOL, which can be worse in patients with severe dyspepsia and those with symptoms for a longer time.

Source: Goyal O, Goyal P, Kishore H, et al. Quality of life in Indian patients with functional dyspepsia: Translation and validation of the Hindi version of Short-Form Nepean Dyspepsia Index. Indian J Gastroenterol. 2022 Feb 21.