Objectives
The current value set for the German version of the EQ-5D-3L was generated more than 10 years ago and there is also a demand for a new valuation study, because the questionnaire has been changed from a 3-level to a 5-level version. The aim of this study was to derive a value set for the EQ-5D-5L for Germany.
Methods
The study design followed, as one of the first countries, the improved EQ-5D-5L valuation protocol developed by the EuroQol Research Foundation. Data were collected in computer assisted personal interviews with members of the German general population. Participants were asked to each value a randomly selected block of 10 EQ-5D-5L health states using composite time trade-off (cTTO). Econometric modelling was used to estimate values for all 3,125 possible health states described by the EQ-5D-5L. The most appropriate model was determined in terms of logical consistency, goodness of fit and parsimony.
Results
The values for 86 selected EQ-5D-5L health states were elicited using cTTO from a representative general population sample (n=1,159). Random effects model with main effects represented by 20 dummy variables and a constant performed better than the other models. This model showed high consistency in the sense that the higher the dimensional level the lower the coefficient for all parameter estimates (p-value<0.05). The predicted values ranged from -0.4675 to 0.9876.
Conclusions
The improved valuation protocol combined with intensive interviewer training and close data monitoring showed a high feasibility and acceptability to respondents as well as interviewers in Germany and resulted in high data quality. The EQ-5D-5L preference values estimated in this study might facilitate the use of the EQ-5D-5L in a range of applications like in cost-utility analysis for health care policy and clinical assessment in Germany.
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© 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc.
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