Purpose To estimate Swedish experience-based value sets for EQ-5D health states using general population health survey data. Methods Approximately 45,000 individuals valued their current health status by means of time trade off (TTO) and visual analogue scale (VAS) methods and answered the EQ-5D questionnaire, making it possible to model the association between the experience-based TTO and VAS values and the EQ-5D dimensions and severity levels. The association between TTO and VAS values and the different severity levels of respondents’ answers on a self-rated health (SRH) question was assessed. Results Almost all dimensions (except usual activity) and severity levels had less impact on TTO valuations compared with the UK study based on hypothetical values. Anxiety/depression had the greatest impact on both TTO and VAS values. TTO and VAS values were consistently related to SRH. The inclusion of age, sex, education and socioeconomic group affected the main effect coefficients and the explanatory power modestly. Conclusions A value set for EQ-5D health states based on Swedish valuations has been lacking. Several authors have recently advocated the normative standpoint of using experience-based values. Guidelines of economic evaluation for reimbursement decisions in Sweden recommend the use of experience-based values for QALY calculations. Our results that anxiety/depression had the greatest impact on both TTO and VAS values underline the importance of mental health for individuals’ overall HRQoL. Using population surveys is in line with recent thinking on valuing health states and could reduce some of the focusing effects potentially appearing in hypothetical valuation studies.

Purpose To measure and analyse national EQ-5D data and to provide norms for the Chinese general population by age, sex, educational level, income and employment status. Methods The EQ-5D instrument was included in the National Health Services Survey 2008 (n = 120,703) to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL). All descriptive analyses by socio-economic status (educational level, income and employment status) and by clinical characteristics (discomfort during the past 2 weeks, diagnosed with chronic diseases during the past 6 months and hospitalised during the past 12 months) were stratified by sex and age group. Results Health status declines with advancing age, and women reported worse health status than men, which is in line with EQ-5D population health studies in other countries and previous population health studies in China. The EQ-5D instrument distinguished well for the known groups: positive association between socio-economic status and HRQoL was observed among the Chinese population. Persons with clinical characteristics had worse HRQoL than those without. Conclusions This study provides Chinese population HRQoL data measured by the EQ-5D instrument, based on a national representative sample. The main findings for different subgroups are consistent with results from EQ-5D population studies in other countries, and discriminative validity was supported.

This study analyse how subjective well-being (SWB) in a Chinese population varies with subjective health status, age, sex, region and socio-economic characteristics. In the Household Health Survey 2010, face-to-face interviews were carried out in urban and rural counties in eastern, middle and western areas of China (n = 8,000, aged 15–102 years). To measure subjective health status, a global self-rated health question, the EQ-5D descriptive system, and a visual analogue scale of health status was included. To measure SWB, a validated Chinese version of a question on self-reported happiness, adopted from the World Values Survey, was included. SWB increased with socio-economic status (income and education), and was lower among unemployed individuals and divorced individuals. SWB also increased strongly with subjective health status. When health status was divided into different dimensions using the EQ-5D, the anxiety/depression dimension was the most important dimension for SWB. The reported SWB was also higher in rural counties than in urban counties in the same area, after controlling for socio-economic characteristics and subjective health status.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to develop an EQ-5D-5L value set based on the health preferences of the general adult population of Vietnam. Methods: The EQ-VT protocol version 2.1 was applied. Multi-stage stratified cluster sampling was employed to recruit a nationally representative sample. Both composite time trade-off (C-TTO) and discrete choice experiment (DCE) methods were used. Several modelling approaches were considered including hybrid; tobit; panel and heteroscedastic models. First, models using C-TTO or DCE data were tested separately. Then possibility of combining the C-TTO and DCE data was examined. Hybrid models were tested if it was sensible to combine both types of data. The best-performing model was selected based on both the consistency of the results produced and the degree to which models used all the available data. Results: Data from 1200 respondents representing the general Vietnamese adult population were included in the analyses. Only the DCE Logit model and the regular Hybrid model that uses all available data produced consistent results. As the priority was to use all available data if possible, the hybrid model was selected to generate the Vietnamese value set. Mobility had the largest effect on health state values, followed by pain/discomfort, usual activities, anxiety/depression and self-care. The Vietnam values ranged from − 0.5115 to 1. Conclusion: This is the first value set for EQ-5D-5L based on social preferences obtained from a nationally representative sample in Vietnam. The value set will likely play a key role in economic evaluations and health technology assessments in Vietnam.

Aims: To describe and compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among homeless persons with a general population sample in Stockholm County, 2006, and to analyse the importance of certain social determinants of health among the homeless. Methods: Face-to-face interviews with 155 homeless persons and a postal survey to a general population sample, mainly based on the same questionnaire, including questions on social determinants of health and HRQoL measured with the EQ-5D. Results: Chronic illness was three times more common among the homeless. HRQoL was worse among homeless persons than in the general population sample: the homeless reported more problems, especially more severe problems, in all the EQ-5D dimensions and had considerably lower EQ-5D_index and EQ_VAS score than the general population. Most problems were reported in the dimension anxiety/depression. Among the homeless, longer duration and more severe degree of homelessness lowered HRQoL, but few determinants were statistically significantly related to HRQoL. Having mental disease significantly lowered HRQoL. Conclusions: This study was an attempt to include hard-to-reach groups in an assessment of population health. Homeless persons had considerably worse HRQoL than the general population and reported most problems in the dimension anxiety/depression. Some diseases may contribute to causing homelessness; others may be seen as consequences. Homeless persons are a vulnerable group in society. Further interview studies are needed based on larger sample of homeless persons to explore health determinants such as sex, age, socioeconomic factors, duration and degree of homelessness, and health-related behaviours among the homeless persons.