title: EQ-5D-5L in the General German Population: Comparison and Evaluation of Three Yearly Cross-Section Surveys.
abstract: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a key measure for evaluating health status in populations. Using the recent EQ-5D-5L for measurement, this study analyzed quality of life results and their stability over consecutive population surveys. Three cross-section surveys for representative samples of the general German population from 2012, 2013, and 2014 were evaluated using the EQ-5D-5L descriptive system and valuation by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Aggregated sample size reached 6074. The dimension with the highest prevalence of problems was pain/discomfort (31.7%). Compared with 2012 (59.3%), the percentage of participants in the best health state increased slightly in 2013 (63.4%) and 2014 (62%). Over the 3-year period, diabetes and heart disease had the strongest negative influence on mean VAS result. The number of reported chronic diseases cumulatively reduced mean VAS. Extreme problems in one or more dimensions were stated by only 0.1%-0.2% of patients. Of the potential 247 health states with a problem score ≥ 20, only six were observed in the aggregated sample. HRQoL results were fairly stable over the 3 years, but the share of the population with no problems was not. Results from the aggregated sample may serve as updated reference values for the general German population.
authors.affiliation: German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute for Health Economics and Health Care Management, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Postfach 1129, Neuherberg 85758, Germany. manuel.huber@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Manuel B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute for Health Economics and Health Care Management, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Postfach 1129, Neuherberg 85758, Germany. reitmeir@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reitmeir
authors.affiliation: Wort &amp; Bild Verlag Konradshöhe GmbH &amp; Co. KG, Baierbrunn 82065, Germany. martin.vogelmann@wortundbildverlag.de.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vogelmann
authors.affiliation: German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute for Health Economics and Health Care Management, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Postfach 1129, Neuherberg 85758, Germany. leidl@bwl.lmu.de.|Munich Center of Health Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Ludwigstr. 28 RG, Munich 80539, Germany. leidl@bwl.lmu.de.
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leidl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D064232:Visual Analog Scale
keywords: EQ-5D-5L; Germany; cross-section; reference values