title: A comparison of Hong Kong and United Kingdom SF-6D health states valuations using a nonparametric Bayesian method.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is interest in the extent to which valuations of health may differ between different countries and cultures, but few studies have compared preference values of health states obtained in different countries. The present study applies a nonparametric model to estimate and compare two HK and UK standard gamble values for six-dimensional health state short form (derived from short-form 36 health survey) (SF-6D) health states using Bayesian methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data set is the HK and UK SF-6D valuation studies in which two samples of 197 and 249 states defined by the SF-6D were valued by representative samples of the HK and UK general populations, respectively, both using the standard gamble technique. We estimated a function applicable across both countries that explicitly accounts for the differences between them, and is estimated using the data from both countries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results suggest that differences in SF-6D health state valuations between the UK and HK general populations are potentially important. In particular, the valuations of Hong Kong were meaningfully higher than those of the United Kingdom for most of the selected SF-6D health states. The magnitude of these country-specific differences in health state valuation depended, however, in a complex way on the levels of individual dimensions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new Bayesian nonparametric method is a powerful approach for analyzing data from multiple nationalities or ethnic groups to understand the differences between them and potentially to estimate the underlying utility functions more efficiently.
authors: Department of Mathematics, University of York, York, UK. Electronic address: samer.kharroubi@york.ac.uk.
authors: Samer A
authors: SA
authors: Kharroubi
authors: Health Economics and Decision Science, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors: John E
authors: JE
authors: Brazier
authors: Department of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: McGhee
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: SF-6D; nonparametric method; preference-based health measure; standard gamble