Table 1.
Items included in the Item Reduction Questionnaire. Overall importance of each item as measured by the Frequency Importance Product.
| Item | Frequency* | Mean importance+ | Overall importance++ |
| Symptoms | |||
| Pain | 0.95 | 3.69 | 3.49 |
| Fever | 0.42 | 3.23 | 1.36 |
| Chills | 0.51 | 3.06 | 1.55 |
| Sweating | 0.43 | 2.84 | 1.23 |
| Loss of appetite | 0.46 | 3.07 | 1.42 |
| Nausea | 0.27 | 2.63 | 0.72 |
| Numbness | 0.40 | 2.74 | 1.10 |
| Swelling | 0.92 | 3.88 | 3.56 |
| Blistering | 0.28 | 3.28 | 0.93 |
| Fatigue | 0.54 | 3.40 | 1.83 |
| Trouble moving | 0.75 | 3.47 | 2.59 |
| Stiffness | 0.60 | 3.28 | 1.97 |
| Soreness | 0.92 | 3.76 | 3.44 |
| Pressure | 0.66 | 3.43 | 2.28 |
| Throbbing | 0.61 | 3.36 | 2.05 |
| Streaking | 0.20 | 2.81 | 0.56 |
| Discomfort in a distant body part | 0.40 | 3.36 | 1.34 |
| Discomfort caused by treatment of your infection | 0.33 | 2.74 | 0.89 |
| Daily Functioning | |||
| Doing your job | 0.79 | 3.96 | 3.13 |
| Walking | 0.59 | 3.48 | 2.05 |
| Bathing | 0.62 | 3.45 | 2.14 |
| Using the toilet | 0.38 | 2.97 | 1.13 |
| Driving | 0.51 | 3.27 | 1.65 |
| Changing clothes | 0.64 | 2.98 | 1.92 |
| Hobbies | 0.51 | 3.10 | 1.57 |
| Earning an income | 0.54 | 4.08 | 2.19 |
| Exercising | 0.66 | 3.20 | 2.12 |
| Falling asleep | 0.62 | 3.53 | 2.19 |
| Traveling | 0.38 | 3.03 | 1.15 |
| Emotional Functioning | |||
| Frustrated | 0.68 | 3.46 | 2.37 |
| Impatient | 0.46 | 3.33 | 1.54 |
| Irritable | 0.57 | 3.09 | 1.76 |
| Angry | 0.28 | 3.27 | 0.93 |
| Disappointed | 0.61 | 3.18 | 1.94 |
| Afraid | 0.47 | 3.27 | 1.55 |
| Annoyed | 0.55 | 3.50 | 1.92 |
| Embarrassed | 0.31 | 2.77 | 0.85 |
| Miserable | 0.34 | 3.26 | 1.10 |
| Depressed | 0.28 | 2.67 | 0.76 |
| Sad | 0.34 | 2.75 | 0.93 |
| Stressed | 0.51 | 2.98 | 1.51 |
| Exhausted | 0.58 | 3.38 | 1.96 |
| Inconvenienced | 0.75 | 3.41 | 2.55 |
| Social Interactions | |||
| Difficulty socializing because your infection is "disfiguring" | 0.19 | 2.57 | 0.49 |
| Difficulty getting out of the house | 0.41 | 3.21 | 1.32 |
| Less desire to socialize than usual | 0.40 | 3.11 | 1.24 |
| You are inconveniencing your friends and family | 0.56 | 3.37 | 1.88 |
| Difficulty being physically intimate with your partner | 0.36 | 3.56 | 1.27 |
| Difficult being emotionally intimate with your partner | 0.24 | 3.33 | 0.81 |
*Frequency of study participants reporting item as a problem (maximum = 1.0)
+Mean importance assigned to item if reported as a problem (maximum = 5.0)
++Frequency importance product (frequency × mean importance) (maximum = 5.0)
NB: The twenty highest ranking items are in bold font and were included in the final questionnaire and calculation of the ESTI score.