• 5L Valuation Studies_per January 2013

If you are intending to perform a valuation study, please contact the EuroQol Executive Office and provide brief details of your planned research.

The meeting addressed the following topics: applications of EQ-5D in clinical health outcome measurement, economic analyses and population health status assessment.

We are proud to announce that these themes were presented by four of our EuroQol members: Nancy Devlin, Erica Lubetkin, Stirling Bryan and Jeff Johnson.

Please click here to view the programme and a series of videos produced from the workshop.

This symposium, attended by more than 300 people, provided an overview of its continuous investment in an ambitious research programme to further develop the EQ-5D.  The purpose of this symposium was to describe recent advances in developing the EQ-5D-5L and the valuation of 5 level health states. Also, key experimental work regarding the development and potential use of ‘bolt-on’ dimensions were presented along with results from current research and plans for further research in this area.

Download here handouts of the symposium presentation.

Crosswalk value sets for the EQ-5D-5L are currently available for the following countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, UK, US and Zimbabwe. A scientific publication describing the methodology behind the study in detail is expected to be published soon in Value In Health Journal. A more detailed description of the crosswalk model and methodology, and the actual index values can be downloaded below:

• EQ-5D-5L Crosswalk model and methodology
• EQ-5D-5L Crosswalk value sets

A tool "EQ-5D-5L Crosswalk Index Value Calculator" calculates the crosswalk index values for the EQ-5D-5L dimension scores and can be downloaded below:

• EQ-5D-5L Crosswalk Index Value Calculator

Background

The EuroQol Group recently launched a 5-level version of the EQ-5D descriptive system, the EQ-5D-5L (M. Herdman et al. Qual Life Res DOI 10.1007/s11136-011-99031). In developing the 5L, the 5-dimensional structure of the original EQ-5D-3L was retained but the levels on each dimension were expanded to 5-levels based on qualitative and quantitative studies conducted by the EuroQol Group. The labels for each of the dimensions are: no problems, slight problems, moderate problems, severe problems and unable to/extreme problems. [Please note that the EQ-VAS is still an integral part of the EQ-5D-5L but has been adapted to make it more user friendly].

Index-based values (‘utilities’) are a major feature of the EQ-5D instrument, facilitating the calculation of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) that are used to inform economic evaluations of health care interventions. Studies that directly elicit preferences from general population samples to derive value sets for the EQ-5D-5L are under development in a number of countries; however, these studies will take time to complete and for results to be disseminated.

In the interim, the EuroQoL Group coordinated a study that administered both the 3-level and 5-level versions of the EQ-5D, in order to develop a “crosswalk” between the EQ-5D-3L value sets and the new EQ-5D-5L descriptive system, resulting in crosswalk value sets for the EQ-5D-5L. A total of 3691 respondents completed both the 3L and 5L across 6 countries: Denmark, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Scotland. Different subgroups were targeted, and in most countries, a screening protocol was implemented to ensure that a broad spectrum of levels of health would be captured across the dimensions of EQ-5D for both the 5L and 3L descriptive systems.