[Measuring preferences for depressive health states]

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Psychometric Validation
• Mental Health Assessment

Background:

• Preference-based outcome measures are crucial for health economics evaluations.
• The EuroQol instrument (EQ-5D), time trade-off (TTO), and willingness-to-pay (WTP) are commonly used.
• Validating these measures in specific populations, like those with depressive disorders, is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the construct and concurrent validity of the EQ-5D, TTO, and WTP for valuing depressive health states.
• To assess the performance of these preference-based valuation methods in a German population sample.

Main Methods:

• A survey of 3522 non-institutionalized adults in Germany.
• Utilized EQ-5D, TTO, WTP, and SF-12 questionnaires.
• Compared respondents with and without DSM-IV depressive disorders, diagnosed via WMH-CIDI.

Main Results:

• Depressive disorders were associated with significantly poorer outcomes across most EQ-5D dimensions and preference measures (p < 0.001).
• EQ-5D measures demonstrated strong correlations with each other (r = 0.63-0.92) and with SF-12 components (r = 0.26-0.45).
• Willingness-to-pay showed moderate correlation with TTO (r = -0.46) and weaker correlations with EQ-5D measures (r = -0.20 to -0.22).

Conclusions:

• The study confirms the construct and concurrent validity of preference-based measures for depressive health states.
• EQ-5D and TTO are reliable tools for valuing the health burden of depression.
• Findings support the use of these instruments in health economic evaluations of mental health interventions.