Digestive and Liver Disease 45 (2013) 115–118 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Digestive and Liver Disease j our nal ho me page: www.elsevier.com/locate/dld Alimentary Tract The Italian translation of the Celiac Disease-specific Quality of Life Scale in celiac patients on gluten free diet Fabiana Zingone a , Alessandro Iavarone b , Raffaella Tortora c , Nicola Imperatore c , Lucienne Pellegrini a , Teresa Russo c , Spencer D. Dorn d , Carolina Ciacci a,∗ a University of Salerno, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Salerno, Italy b Neurological and Stroke Unit, CTO Hospital, AORN “Ospedali dei Colli, Naples, Italy c University of Naples Federico II, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Naples, Italy d Center for Functional GI and Motility Disorders, University of North Carolina, United States a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 24 July 2012 Accepted 11 October 2012 Available online 6 December 2012 Keywords: Celiac disease Quality of life Questionnaire Validation a b s t r a c t Background: A recently devised tool, the Celiac Disease-specific Quality of Life Scale has been proposed to assess specifically quality of life in celiac patients. Aim: To assess the validity and reliability of the Italian translation of the Celiac Disease-specific Quality of Life Scale. Methods: The Celiac Disease-specific Quality of Life Scale underwent forward/backward translation. Adults patients on gluten free diet by at least one year, consecutively recruited, completed SF36 ques- tionnaire, the Italian version of Celiac Disease-specific Quality of Life Scale, the Health Related Quality of Life question and an abdominal pain scale. The study fulfilled criteria for acceptable psychometric assessment according to the International Quality of Life Assessment project. Results: Two-hundred-thirty celiac patients were recruited after about nine years from diagnosis. Factor analysis indicates that there are some similarities and discrepancies between the English and the Italian questionnaires. Despite this, the Italian Celiac Disease-specific Quality of Life Scale was able to iden- tify the same four factors characterizing the patients’ answers (dysphoria, limitations, health concerns, inadequate treatment). Conclusion: The Celiac Disease-specific Quality of Life Scale is useful for assessing Celiac Disease-related Quality of Life. A wide use of the Italian Celiac Disease-specific Quality of Life Scale may be of help in obtaining comparable data on QOL in different setting and countries. © 2012 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic condition that impairs quality of life [1–5]. Compared to the general population, celiac patients who are symptomatic at diagnosis report a lower quality of life, while subclinical patients report a preserved quality of life [3]. Adherence to a gluten free diet (GFD) improves quality of life in most celiac patient [4,5]. Notably, most attempts to evaluate CD-related quality of life have relied on generic instruments, such as the Short Form-36 [6]. Because these generic instruments do not capture the attitudes, perceptions, and needs specifically related to celiac disease [7] they may be insensitive and unresponsive to changes over time. ∗ Corresponding author at: University of Salerno Medical School, Baronissi Cam- pus, via Salvador Allende, 84081 Baronissi, SA, Italy. Tel.: +39 089965032. E-mail address: cciacci@unisa.it (C. Ciacci). Recently, Dorn et al. [8] developed a CD-specific Quality of Life Scale (CD-QOL) tailored to assess the special profile of celiac patients. The tool is a questionnaire that considers the specific perception of patient’s life during treatment, including affected individuals’ concerns, fears and limits related with this disease and with the starting a GFD. It is composed by four dimensions (dysphoria, lim- itations, health concerns, inadequate treatment). The aim of the present study was to devise and to describe psy- chometric properties of the Italian version of this instrument, the Italian CD-QOL (CD-QOL-I). 2. Materials and methods The Italian translation of the CD-QOL questionnaire, devised and previously validated in English by Dorn et al. [8] was performed according to the Rome translation project and approved by the Rome Foundation appointed clinician. Furthermore, the study ful- filled criteria for acceptable psychometric assessment according to the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOL) project [9]. 1590-8658/$36.00 © 2012 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dld.2012.10.018