Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40567297›Full record

ArticleJournal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology2025

Validation of the Saint Paul's Endoscopy Comfort Scale (SPECS) for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Aein Zarrin, Jennifer J Telford, Neal Shahidi, Natasha Harris, Cherry Galorport, Robert Enns

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Aein ZarrinDepartment of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V5Z1M9, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7539-7397
Jennifer J TelfordDepartment of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V5Z1M9, Canada.
Neal ShahidiDepartment of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V5Z1M9, Canada.
Natasha HarrisDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1K0T2, Canada.
Cherry GalorportDivision of Gastroenterology, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC V6Z2K5, Canada.
Robert EnnsDepartment of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V5Z1M9, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Patient comfort is an important predictor of patient satisfaction and a quality indicator in endoscopy. The St. Paul's Endoscopy Comfort Score (SPECS), previously validated for colonoscopy, was assessed for measuring patient comfort during esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 3 groups of assessors (gastroenterologists, nurses, and observers) used SPECS and the modified Gloucester Comfort Scale (GS) to measure patients' comfort during outpatient EGD. Patient-reported outcomes were measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and satisfaction survey. Descriptive statistics and inter-rater reliability were calculated across the 3 groups for both tools. The correlation between SPECS, GS, and VAS was calculated. Results: Three hundred subjects were included. The mean age was 56.7 years (SD 14.7 years) and 160 (53.3%) were male. Overall, 89.0% ( Conclusions: SPECS is a reliable assessment tool to measure patient comfort during EGD. SPECS may be used to audit patient comfort at a facility and physician level.

Indexed as

endoscopyinter-rater reliabilitypatient comfort scale

Identifiers

PMID40567297
PMCPMC12187590

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.