Overview

Abstract (English)

Keywords Utility scores; Canadian Health Measures Survey; Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3); children and youth Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is considered to be an important endpoint in the evaluation of health status and health care interventions-there is a need to understand changes not only in the quantity of life but also in the HRQoL (e.g., an intervention for pain management may have no impact on mortality). In CUAs, outcomes are expressed in terms of incremental cost per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained.4-6 The basic concept of a QALY combines an individual’s length and quality of life into a single metric.7 Having normative data on utility scores at the population level is critical to facilitate the interpretation of clinical data and inform resource allocation decisions.8 Normative utility data are required to determine whether an individual or a group has a higher or lower utility than the average for their country, a specific age group or sex.9 Researchers can use population norms to compare the results obtained from their clinical study sample with population-level data for the purpose of interpreting outcomes, profiling (e.g., comparing outcomes among subgroups) or tracking population trends over time. Data collection comprises personal interviews using a computer-assisted interviewing method at the participant’s home to collect information on household and individual characteristics (e.g., sociodemographic and economic variables, lifestyle habits, chronic conditions, self-rated health, and HRQoL data). The HUB has been used in hundreds of studies across many health care settings to document HRQoL.24 The HUB has been shown to be valid, reliable and responsive among clinical or general populations, including children aged 5 years and older.2526 The HUB combines a preference-based generic health status classification system with a utility scoring system that measures health status and HRQoL.24 It examines eight health attributes (i.e., vision, hearing, speech, ambulation, dexterity, emotion, cognition, and pain or discomfort), with five or six levels per attribute.

Abstract (French)

Please note that abstracts only appear in the language of the publication and might not have a translation.