OHE at the EuroQol Plenary Meeting 2017

A summary of OHE researchers’ contributions to the 34th Plenary Meeting of the EuroQol Group in Barcelona.

The EuroQol Group, founded in1987, is a global network of experts that initiated and continues to develop the EQ-5D, a generic measure of health outcome. The 34th Plenary Meeting of the EuroQol Group took place in Barcelona on 21st and 22nd September 2017. The Scientific Programme was chaired by Anna Krabbe-Lugnér and OHE’s Koonal Shah, while Mike Herdman (OHE’s Head of Health Outcomes) was one of the meeting’s local hosts. A number of OHE researchers attended the meeting, playing an active role in both the presentation and discussion of EQ-5D-related research.

Patricia Cubi-Molla presented a paper examining the concept of experience-based values. The paper proposes a framework in which the factor of ‘experience’ is detached from other factors, such as what is being valued, whose health state is being valued, and when the health state occurred. The results show that the role of experience is frequently disregarded or simplified in the reporting of health valuation studies. The paper was co-authored by Koonal Shah, and was discussed by Mimmi Åström.

Yan Feng presented a paper applying the innovative econometric methods used in modelling the EQ-5D-5L value set for England to the MVH study data underpinning the UK EQ-5D-3L value set. The study facilitates direct comparisons between the characteristics of the two value sets, and provides insights into how differences between them affect the distributions of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L index data. The paper was co-authored by OHE’s Nancy Devlin and Ben van Hout of the University of Sheffield, and was discussed by Eleanor Pullenayegum.

Bernarda Zamora presented a paper reporting new methods for analysing the distribution of EQ-5D observations (previously reported at the 2017 PROMs research conference). The Health State Density Index and Health State Density Curve are used to summarise the extent to which people’s self-reported health on the EQ-5D is concentrated on a few health states, or distributed more evenly over a wide range of health states. This information can be useful in understanding patients’ treatment needs, as well as providing a way of comparing the nature of data provided by different patients or collected using different patient-reported outcome measures. Co-authors include OHE Senior Visiting Fellow David Parkin, and Andrew Bateman of the Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust. The paper was discussed by Thomas Kohlmann.    

Paula Lorgelly and Mike Herdman both presented posters at the Plenary Meeting. Paula’s poster – co-authored by Richard Norman of Curtin University – compared the sensitivity of the EQ-5D (a generic instrument) to that of two cancer-specific instruments, the EORTC-8D and the QLU-C10D. Mike’s poster summarised key findings of a workshop on the use of minimally important differences in EQ-5D research. The poster was co-authored by OHE’s Nancy Devlin and David Mott, as well as researchers from APERSU, the Alberta PROMs and EQ-5D Research and Support Unit.

Mike also discussed a paper by Janine Verstraete on the influence that a child’s perceived general health has on the health status reported by their primary caregiver.

Finally, David, Koonal, Paula and Yan were included as co-authors on the following papers/posters led by collaborators at other institutions:

• Norman, R., Viney, R., Mulhern, B., Brazier, J, Ratcliffe, J., Lancsar, E., Lorgelly, P., Street, D.J. and Flattery, M., 2017. A large Australian DCE with duration and dead to value EQ-5D-5L health states. [Paper]
• Gutacker, N., Patton, N., Shah, K. and Parkin, D., 2017. The role of EQ-5D value sets based on patient preferences in the context of hospital choice in the national PROM programme in England. [Paper]
• Flattery, M., Mulhern, B., Norman, R., Street, D., Feng, Y., et al. Valuing EQ-5D-5L in Australia using an adapted EQ-VT: Informing the further development of a revised valuation protocol. [Poster]

For more information about OHE’s programme of EuroQol-related research, please contact Nancy Devlin or Koonal Shah.