Utilities of Patients with Hypertension in Northern Vietnam.
OBJECTIVE
The study aims to inform potential cost-effectiveness analysis of hypertension management in Vietnam by providing utilities and predictors of utilities in patients with hypertension.


METHODS
Hypertensive patients up to 80 years old visiting the hospital were invited to participate in a survey using Quality Metric's Short-form 36v2TM translated into Vietnamese. Health-state utilities were estimated by applying a previously published algorithm.


RESULTS
The mean utility of the 691 patients interviewed was 0.73. Controlling for age, sex, blood pressure (BP) stage, and history of stroke, the utilities in older patients were lower than those in younger ones, and statistically significantly different between the extremes of youngest and oldest groups (p = 0.03). Utility in males was higher than in females (p = 0.002). As expected, patients with a history of stroke appeared to exhibit lower utilities than patients without such history, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.73). Patients with more than three comorbidities did have lower utilities than patients without comorbidity (p = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Health-state utilities found among hypertensive patients in Vietnam were similar to those found in other international studies. It is suggested that lower of health-state utilities exist among those patients who were older, female or had more than three comorbidities in comparison with respective reference groups. However, further research for confirmation is required. The data from this study provide a potential reference on health-state utilities of hypertensive patients in Vietnam as an input for future cost-effectiveness analysis of interventions. Also, it may serve as a reference for other similar populations, especially in the context of similar environments in low income countries.
Department of Pharmacy, Unit of PharmacoEpidemiology&PharmacoEconomics (PE2), University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713AV, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Thi-Phuong-Lan
TP
Nguyen
University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Epidemiology, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Paul F M
PF
Krabbe
Department of Health Economic, Ha Noi University of Medicine, Ha Noi, Vietnam.
Thi-Bach-Yen
TB
Nguyen
Department of Pharmacy, Unit of PharmacoEpidemiology&PharmacoEconomics (PE2), University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713AV, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Catharina C M
CC
Schuiling-Veninga
Medical Committee Netherlands-Vietnam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
E Pamela
EP
Wright
Department of Pharmacy, Unit of PharmacoEpidemiology&PharmacoEconomics (PE2), University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713AV, Groningen, The Netherlands; Institute for Science in Healthy Aging & healthcaRE (SHARE), University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Groningen, The Netherlands.
Maarten J
MJ
Postma
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000191:economics* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014744:Vietnam