Table 5. Association between individual questions from the HS severity questionnaire and Hurley Stage of moderate versus mild, and severe versus mild.
| Questions from the HS severity questionnaire | Effect | Hurley Stage | Univariate a | Multivariate b | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odd Ratio | 95% CI | p-value | Odd Ratio | 95% CI | p-value | |||
| 1: In the last 6 months, how many sore or painful boils/lumps at least 1 cm (or half an inch) in diameter have you had? c | 1 unit increase | Moderate vs Mild | 1.03 | (0.88, 1.21) | 0.7108 | 1.03 | (0.80, 1.32) | 0.8464 |
| Severe vs Mild | 1.05 | (0.89, 1.25) | 0.5379 | 0.87 | (0.66, 1.14) | 0.3072 | ||
| 2: In the last 6 months, what is the most pain you have experienced from your boils or lumps (0 is no pain and 10 is unbearable pain)? | 1 unit increase | Moderate vs Mild | 0.89 | (0.76, 1.05) | 0.1618 | 0.84 | (0.65, 1.08) | 0.1680 |
| Severe vs Mild | 0.98 | (0.82, 1.17) | 0.8132 | 0.86 | (0.65, 1.13) | 0.2714 | ||
| 3: Have you ever had boils or lumps heal leaving scars that feel harder than the skin around the scars? (at any stage in your life, not just the last 6 months) | Yes vs No | Moderate vs Mild | 1.66 | (0.48, 5.75) | 0.4218 | 1.10 | (0.25, 4.84) | 0.9035 |
| Severe vs Mild | 2.33 | (0.55, 9.83) | 0.2483 | 2.87 | (0.50, 16.54) | 0.2371 | ||
| 4a: In the last 6 months, have the boils or scars restricted your movements? | Yes vs No | Moderate vs Mild | 0.60 | (0.20, 1.84) | 0.3719 | 0.46 | (0.09, 2.38) | 0.3557 |
| Severe vs Mild | 1.88 | (0.43, 8.17) | 0.4005 | 1.17 | (0.16, 8.38) | 0.8722 | ||
| 4b: In the last 6 months, have the boils or scars interfered with your work/school activities? | Yes vs No | Moderate vs Mild | 1.30 | (0.54, 3.16) | 0.5566 | 2.44 | (0.70, 8.48) | 0.1602 |
| Severe vs Mild | 3.48 | (1.17, 10.32) | 0.0247 | 5.76 | (1.31, 25.32) | 0.0205 | ||
| 4c: In the last 6 months, have the boils or scars caused you embarrassment or shame? | Yes vs No | Moderate vs Mild | 1.77 | (0.60, 5.24) | 0.2996 | 3.42 | (0.81, 14.45) | 0.0941 |
| Severe vs Mild | 1.61 | (0.52, 5.02) | 0.4124 | 0.95 | (0.19, 4.78) | 0.9533 | ||
| 4d: In the last 6 months, have the boils or scars impacted on your personal or physical relationships? | Yes vs No | Moderate vs Mild | 0.56 | (0.23, 1.39) | 0.2130 | 0.32 | (0.09, 1.18) | 0.0868 |
| Severe vs Mild | 1.44 | (0.51, 4.10) | 0.4899 | 0.84 | (0.18, 4.00) | 0.8264 | ||
| 5: Does the skin of the area affected ever heal completely (possibly leaving scars)? | Yes vs No | Moderate vs Mild | 0.81 | (0.34, 1.93) | 0.6343 | 0.83 | (0.31, 2.26) | 0.7159 |
| Severe vs Mild | 0.42 | (0.16, 1.09) | 0.0735 | 0.42 | (0.14, 1.26) | 0.1212 | ||
| 6: Does the area affected by the scarring ever feel “lumpy” or the contour of “bubble wrap”? | Yes vs No | Moderate vs Mild | 2.13 | (0.57, 7.94) | 0.2590 | 3.04 | (0.64, 14.44) | 0.1629 |
| Severe vs Mild | 1.31 | (0.38, 4.58) | 0.6707 | 1.32 | (0.28, 6.21) | 0.7235 | ||
| 7: How big is the area currently affected by scarring that you would regard as ugly/distressing? | > 2 vs ≤ 2 | Moderate vs Mild | 1.58 | (0.65, 3.88) | 0.3155 | 1.71 | (0.53, 5.51) | 0.3694 |
| Severe vs Mild | 2.67 | (1.04, 6.85) | 0.0418 | 2.35 | (0.66, 8.37) | 0.1856 | ||
| 8: Does the area currently affected always contain some painful pus-filled boils, lumps and scars? | Yes vs No | Moderate vs Mild | 1.30 | (0.47, 3.64) | 0.6141 | 1.46 | (0.42, 5.09) | 0.5534 |
| Severe vs Mild | 3.68 | (0.92, 14.69) | 0.0652 | 2.76 | (0.53, 14.28) | 0.2252 | ||
a Univariate results are from a multinomial logistic regression model with Hurley Stage as the outcome, and individual questions as the predictor variable.
b Multivariate results are from a multinomial logistic regression model with Hurley Stage as the outcome, and questions 1 to 8 as the predictor variables
c Due to small frequencies in some categories, question 1 was modelled as a continuous variable by mapping response 0 to 0, 1 to 1, 2–3 to 2.5, 4–6 to 5, and >6 to 8.