Eliciting social preference weights for Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung health states.
BACKGROUND
The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L) is a multidimensional measure of quality of life developed for use in the evaluation of interventions in lung cancer.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a set of utility weights that could be used to convert FACT-L into a single index capable of being used in the economic analysis of clinical trial data.


METHODS
A core set of FACT-L items were valued in two versions of a 14-page postal survey of over 400 members of the UK general population. Respondents valued hypothetical FACT-L health states using a scale from 0 to 100 (worst to best health state). Respondents also valued their own health using the standard form of the EuroQol EQ-5D. Data were entered into an ordinary least squares regression model.


RESULTS
Item weights estimated in regression analysis yielded values for 10 items from the FACT-L. The summary index based on this selected set of FACT-L items has a maximum value of 0.703 and a minimum value of 0.111.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates a practical method of converting a standard condition-specific measure into a form that has the requisite properties to legitimise its use in cost-utility analysis. The methodology used here is not unique to FACT-L and might be considered appropriate for use in converting similar instruments.
Kind
Paul
P
Outcomes Research Group, Centre for Health Economics, Alcuin College, University of York, UK. pk1@york.ac.uk
Macran
Susan
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom