Validation of a short form Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-21)

Table 4 Frequency, severity, minimal important difference, and responsiveness of WURSS-21 Items

Symptom	Item # on W-21	Item# on W-44	Frequency	Severity	MID	MSE	Responsiveness
How sick	1	1	100.0	4.13 ± 1.46	0.77	0.78	0.62
Runny nose	2	8	98.3	3.70 ± 1.77	0.56	1.48	0.33
Plugged nose	3	9	96.5	4.00 ± 1.79	0.57	1.54	0.32
Sneezing	4	10	95.7	3.34 ± 1.76	0.50	1.20	0.32
Sore throat	5	5	92.6	3.76 ± 1.85	0.49	1.00	0.35
Scratchy throat	6	6	96.1	3.82 ± 1.81	0.50	1.25	0.32
Cough	7	2	92.2	3.80 ± 1.84	0.46	1.76	0.25
Hoarseness	8	7	86.1	3.38 ± 2.01	0.41	1.29	0.26
Head congestion	9	28	93.0	4.03 ± 1.70	0.64	1.54	0.37
Chest congestion	10	29	75.7	3.76 ± 1.88	0.38	0.97	0.27
Feeling tired	11	18	99.6	4.33 ± 1.80	0.82	1.41	0.49
Think clearly	12	34	91.3	3.53 ± 1.68	0.54	1.02	0.38
Sleep well	13	36	93.9	4.17 ± 1.82	0.66	1.69	0.36
Breathe easily	14	37	96.5	3.84 ± 1.86	0.60	1.08	0.41
Walk/Climb stairs	15	38	89.6	3.75 ± 1.81	0.50	0.88	0.38
Accomplish daily activities	16	39	90.4	3.57 ± 1.74	0.57	1.08	0.39
Work outside the home	17	40	82.2	3.80 ± 1.84	0.48	1.16	0.32
Work inside the home	18	41	87.0	3.52 ± 1.81	0.51	0.80	0.40
Interact with others	19	42	86.5	3.50 ± 1.73	0.53	0.93	0.39
Live your personal life	20	43	88.3	3.58 ± 1.74	0.58	0.92	0.43

The first and last items on both the WURSS-21 and WURSS-44 differ from other items in terms of purpose and recall period, hence are not included in summary scores.
Frequency = Scored above zero at least once in first seven days of monitoring,
Severity = Mean severity on 7-point scale averaged over first three days; Calculated only for those with symptom present all three days. To weight each person's responses equally, data were first averaged within-person-over-time, then averaged among participants
Importance = Items were rated for importance on a 5-point scale at intake only, and only on the WURSS-44
MID = Minimal Important Difference = Mean day-to-day change for those rating themselves as "a little better" or "somewhat better" compared to the last time they filled out the questionnaire
MID and Guyatt's responsiveness index were 10.3, 0.71 for the WURSS-21 and 18.5, 0.75 for the WURSS-44, respectively
MSE = Mean squared error for all people who rated themselves as "the same" for two days in a row

ISSN: 1477-7525