[Empirical research of measuring elderly health utility in the outskirts of Beijing by using European quality of life 5-dimensions].
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Peking University School of Public Health, Beijing, China.
Yi-qun
YQ
Wu
Kuo
K
Liu
Xun
X
Tang
Yang
Y
Cao
Jin-wei
JW
Wang
Na
N
Li
Jian-jiang
JJ
Liu
Li-ping
LP
Yu
Hai-tao
HT
Xu
Wu-jun
WJ
Liu
Su-shen
SS
Wen
Yong-hua
YH
Hu
Kai
K
Li
D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*