UK valuation of EQ-5D-5L, a generic measure of health-related quality of life: a study protocol

Objectives

A high quality and widely-accepted UK EQ-5D-5L value set is urgently required to enable the latest version of EQ-5D scored using recent UK public preferences to inform policy including health technology assessments submitted to NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). This paper outlines the study protocol for the generation of a new EQ-5D-5L UK value set.

Methods

Twelve hundred interviews will be undertaken using the composite time trade-off (TTO) elicitation technique for 102 health states (86 from the international EQ-5D-5L valuation protocol, plus 16 with best predictive performance in an extended design used in the Indian EQ-5D-5L valuation). The sample will be UK adults (age 18 and over) proportionately representative across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, representative for age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic group, with inclusion of participants with/ without health problems. Participants will choose to be interviewed via videoconference (by Zoom) or in-person in a central venue. Data quality will be rigorously assessed.

Results

The value set will be generated using Tobit random effects and heteroscedastic Tobit models (with censoring at -1) using all data, excluding TTO values highlighted by participants as ones they would reconsider and data from interviewers failing protocol compliance. Quality and acceptance will be achieved by public involvement, regular Steering Group meetings, independent assessment of data quality at four time points and final endorsement of data and analyses.

Conclusion

The study will produce a UK value set for the EQ-5D-5L for use in prospective and retrospective datasets containing EQ-5D-5L data.