Abstract
Introduction. We describe a novel scale and its field use for evaluation of exercise-associated gastroparesis in the endurance athlete. Methods. A scale was created based on gastroparesis tools previously described in the medical literature. Surveys of the tool were administered to runners participating in a 210 km multiday foot race in Sri Lanka. Results. Use of this novel scale was demonstrated to be useful in assessing gastroparesis severity scores of athletes and how these symptoms affected their race performance. Of the 27 race participants who completed the survey, 27 felt that the tool adequately captured their symptoms. Conclusions. This novel survey tool was able to assess the presence and severity of exercise-associated gastroparesis symptoms in endurance racers in a remote location. This tool may be helpful with further research of the identification and management of gastroparesis and other gastrointestinal upset in the endurance race environment.
Highlights
We describe a novel scale and its field use for evaluation of exercise-associated gastroparesis in the endurance athlete
There has been an increasing body of work aimed solely at understanding medical issues specific to the endurance athlete during race day [5, 6]. These ultramarathons frequently occur in remote geography and often subject athletes to harsh environmental conditions
Further psychometric validation would be needed to ascertain the strengths of each component, but because all of the athletes felt that their symptoms were captured, it is plausible that future analysis of this novel tool would demonstrate statistical sensitivity
Summary
We describe a novel scale and its field use for evaluation of exercise-associated gastroparesis in the endurance athlete. Use of this novel scale was demonstrated to be useful in assessing gastroparesis severity scores of athletes and how these symptoms affected their race performance. This novel survey tool was able to assess the presence and severity of exercise-associated gastroparesis symptoms in endurance racers in a remote location. This tool may be helpful with further research of the identification and management of gastroparesis and other gastrointestinal upset in the endurance race environment. There has been an increasing body of work aimed solely at understanding medical issues specific to the endurance athlete during race day [5, 6] These ultramarathons frequently occur in remote geography and often subject athletes to harsh environmental conditions. Several authors report data from endurance events describing gastrointestinal (GI) distress as a common and pervasive problem even if only temporary [4, 11,12,13,14,15,16]
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