Objective: To evaluate health utility values of the elderly in the outskirts of Beijing by European quality of life 5-dimensions (EQ-5D) from the EuroQol Group, and to compare the health utility values by using different translation models.
Methods: In the cross-sectional study, EQ-5D was used to measure the quality of life for 65 to 79 year-old usual residents in the town of Qinglonghu and Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District of Beijing. The health index which represented the health utility was calculated by using the Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US) population-based time trade-off (TTO) models. Kruskal-Wallis H test was adopted to compare the health indexes calculated by the different models, and intraclass correlations coefficients (ICCs) and Bland-Altman plot were used to evaluate the consistency of the utility calculated by the three models. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the impacts of Cardio-vascular diseasel (CVD) on the 3 kinds of health index. The Spearman rho correlation coefficients between the 3 kinds of health index, EQ-VAS (visual analogue scales) score and age, gender, health status were also calculated.
Results: There were 2 406 participants in this analysis, with a mean age of 70.3 years, of whom 34.3% were male. The median and quantile range of Japan weights, US weights and UK weights health indexes were 1 (0.28), 1 (0.24) and 1 (0.29), respectively. The minimum and maximum of the three indexes were -0.06/1, -0.43/1 and -0.03/1, respectively. The US weights yielded the highest scores and the UK weights the lowest scores. The Japan, US and UK weight scores differed from each other (P<0.005). The Japan and US scores had the highest ICCs (0.987, 95%CI 0.986-0.988), followed by the US and UK scores (0.941, 95%CI 0.937- 0.946) and then the Japan and UK scores (0.921, 95%CI 0.915-0.927). The difference scores of 96.9%, 95.1% and 95.0% were found between the limits of agreement in Bland-Altmand plot. Negative correlations existed between the US/UK score and the number of CVDs, but not existed between the Japan score and the number of CVDs.
Conclusion: The health indexes calculated by using the different EQ-5D TTO transform models were different for the elderly people in the Beijing suburban district, TTO model based on Chinese health preference should be developed.