Table 2.

The results of item selection (pilot study).

Items	CV	EFA	α value	r	Deleted item
Chest distress	0.531	0.605	0.670	0.642
Chest pain	1.115	0.718	0.752	0.757
Sleepiness	1.100	0.286	0.689	0.465
Physical heaviness	0.984	0.613	0.658	0.625
Obesity	1.237	0.506	0.669	0.587
Sticky mouth	1.171	0.752	0.665	0.594
Cyanotic lips	0.725	0.740	0.747	0.769
Dim complexion	0.999	0.849	0.712	0.881
Abdominal fullness	1.066	0.782	0.632	0.748
Anorexia	1.075	0.717	0.645	0.686
Viscous stool	0.651	-0.180	0.710	0.183	×
Dark purple tongue	0.666	0.773	0.747	0.785
Petechiae or ecchymosis on the tongue	1.290	0.859	0.730	0.849
Sublingual vein cyanosis	0.815	0.782	0.729	0.843
Greasy tongue fur	0.847	0.779	0.644	0.730
Slippery pulse	0.976	0.729	0.642	0.713
Wiry pulse	1.031	−0.485	0.749	0.026	×
Uneven pulse	0.429	−0.328	0.833	−0.147	×
Taut and slippery pulse	1.240	−0.503	0.771	−0.003	×
Taut and uneven pulse	0.589	−0.350	0.846	−0.113	×

CV: coefficient of variation; EFA: exploratory factor analysis; α value: alpha reduction; r: correlation analysis. If the item met three or more of the abovementioned criteria, it was deleted.