Diagnostic utility of patient characteristics
| Rated as most important (‘1’) (n (%)) | Rated as useful (‘1’ to ‘5’) (n (%)) | Rated as not useful (‘x’) (n (%)) | |
| Inconsistency | 173 (51) | 315 (93) | 14 (5) |
| Amount of work for you | 6 (2) | 51 (15) | 221 (72) |
| Symptom type | 67 (20) | 278 (82) | 31 (10) |
| Abnormal illness behaviour | 70 (21) | 289 (86) | 15 (5) |
| Disability | 8 (2) | 109 (32) | 129 (42) |
| Psychological abnormality | 30 (9) | 260 (77) | 35 (11) |
| Symptom severity | 4 (1) | 104 (31) | 129 (42) |
| Dislikeable | 2 (1) | 41 (12) | 266 (87) |
| Observer dependence | 24 (7) | 199 (59) | 41 (13) |
Respondents ranked five characteristics they used to make the diagnosis in declining order of importance from 1 to 5. Where respondents ranked all five equally (eg, using ticks rather than numbers) all were considered as ‘1’ for this table. Respondents also marked any characteristics with an ‘x’ that they did not use. Percentages are of those answering the question rounded to the nearest whole number.