Discriminative capacity of the EQ-5D, SF-6D, and SF-12 as measures of health status in population health survey.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the EQ-5D, SF-6D, and SF-12 in terms of their capacity to discriminate between groups defined by relevant socio-demographic and health characteristics in a general population survey.


METHODS
Data were obtained from the 2006 Catalan Health Interview Survey, a representative sample (n = 4,319) of the general population of Catalonia (Spain). Effect sizes (ES) and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to evaluate the instruments' capacity to distinguish between groups based on socio-demographic variables, recent health problems, perceived health, psychological distress, and selected chronic conditions.


RESULTS
All instruments showed a similar discriminative capacity between groups based on socio-demographic variables, recent medical visit (ES = 0.47-0.55), activity limitations (ES = 0.92-0.98), perceived health (ES = 0.97-1.33), and psychological well-being (ES = 1.17-1.57). Effect sizes between respondents with and without any of fourteen selected chronic conditions were large (0.76-1.04) for 4, moderate (0.55-0.74) for 8, and small (0.17-0.39) for two on the EQ-5D index. A similar pattern was observed for the SF-12 but ES were predominantly moderate (7 conditions) or small (6 conditions) on the SF-6D.


CONCLUSIONS
The EQ-5D and SF-12 were largely comparable in estimating the health burden of chronic conditions, recent health problems, and social inequalities. The SF-6D was less sensitive than the EQ-5D index and SF-12, particularly for physical chronic conditions.
Cunillera
Oriol
O
CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Barcelona, Spain.
Tresserras
Ricard
R
Rajmil
Luis
L
Vilagut
Gemma
G
Brugulat
Pilar
P
Herdman
Mike
M
Mompart
Anna
A
Medina
Antonia
A
Pardo
Yolanda
Y
Alonso
Jordi
J
Brazier
John
J
Ferrer
Montse
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult