Peer reviewed
Manuscript (original) submitted: 19 June 2025; revision accepted: 15 January 2026
A Delphi expert survey
Background
In 2022, the Austrian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Gastroenterologie und Hepatologie – ÖGGH) and the Austrian Medical Chamber (Österreichische Ärztekammer – ÖÄK) commissioned a study at the Institute for Advanced Studies on the current standard of care in gastroenterology and hepatology in Austria. The study found that gastroenterological and hepatological diseases (hereinafter referred to as GEH diseases) are highly prevalent and impact healthcare significantly [1]. According to the 2023 Yearbook of Health Statistics published by Statistics Austria, GEH diseases are the most common cause of sickness absence in Austria. They also account for 9.9% of acute hospital admissions and they were responsible for 3.6% of the total of 89,760 deaths in Austria in 2023 [2].
In a 2022 online survey by Diaetologie Austria on “Occupational Statistics and Analysis of the Dietetics Profession in Austria”, to which 427 practicing dietitians successfully responded (28% participation rate), GEH diseases ranked second among the main areas of practice in this specialty with 64.2% mentioning it, just behind diabetology, which was mentioned as the main area by 65.2% [3]. This is consistent with the stances taken by various international professional associations in gastroenterology, whose guidelines emphasize the urgent need for standardized dietetic care for this patient population [4–10]. …
Abstract
This article describes the final online consensus process for developing a comprehensive core-assessment set for nutrition therapy in gastroenterological diseases based on ICF-Dietetics 2.0. The consensus process consisted of a two-round Delphi survey of dietitians specializing in gastroenterology and hepatology (GEH diseases) and dietitians specializing in celiac disease.
The core-assessment set comprises 139 categories for GEH diseases and 124 categories for celiac disease. After removing duplicate categories included in both GEH diseases and celiac disease, the final version includes 150 categories, organized according to the following ICF components: body functions and structures (83), activities (23), participation (8), environmental factors (17), and person-related factors (19).
This first core-assessment set for nutrition therapy in GEH diseases/celiac disease is a tool that allows dietitians to conduct a standardized assessment. It could be used globally in the future through systematic mapping to the international terminology SNOMED CT®.
