Differential Psychometric Properties of EQ-5D-5L and SF-6D Utility Measures in Low Back Pain

Dr Cheung, Jason Pui Yin   (Principal Investigator (PI))

Dr Wong Carlos King Ho   (Co-Investigator)

12

2018-06-30

2019-06-29

79320

Differential Psychometric Properties of EQ-5D-5L and SF-6D Utility Measures in Low Back Pain

EQ-5D, health utility, low back pain, psychometrics, quality of life, SF-6D

Orthopaedics/Traumatology,Health Services

201711159003

Seed Fund for PI Research – Basic Research

2017

Completed

Low Back Pain (LBP) is one of the commonest sources of pain reported.[1-3] LBP has been reported to be the commonest musculoskeletal disorder seen in the emergency department[4] and primary medical care.[5-7] The expenses for diagnostic tests and imaging, consultation visits, therapies and interventions are considerably high, and management costs have been steadily increasing each year despite an unchanged prevalence.[8, 9] Regardless of its aetiology, LBP presentations can range from intermittent to constant episodes of pain, and associated functional disability.[10] The major impact of musculoskeletal pain on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is evident, especially in terms of physical health and function.[11] It is therefore strongly desirable to acquire an appropriate measure which assesses the quality of life of LBP patients, particularly from the patient’s perspective. Furthermore, in order to allow cost-utility analysis of various LBP-related interventions and their cost-effectiveness, such utility scores must be translated into quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Selection of health utility measurements with differential psychometric properties is useful when estimating QALYs. These measures are highly influential for policy makers and clinicians alike to make cost-effective or cost-saving decisions on particular LBP interventions. Both the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) and Short-Form 6-Dimension (SF-6D) questionnaires are generic outcome measures widely used for assessing HRQoL and health utility scores, necessary for an economic evaluation of healthcare interventions. Both measures have been psychometrically tested and used in the evaluation of the LBP population in some countries,[7, 12-14] but were never validated in the Chinese population or directly compared in terms of psychometric properties. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the acceptability and validity of the EQ-5D-5L and SF-6D instruments in Chinese patients with LBP with a concurrent head-to-head comparison on their psychometric properties.