A comparison of patient and general population weightings of EQ-5D dimensions

This paper examines the differences in health state evaluations given by patients when they are asked to value their own current states, and those given by members of the general population who were asked to value hypothetical health states. Patient data consist of 4137 observations on EQ-5D profiles and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) obtained from 3376 patients, covering eight different conditions. General population data are taken from the EQ-5D valuation set. Two analyses were carried out. In the first, the patient self-rated VAS was compared with population VAS values for the same health states. In the second, the patient self-rated VAS values were modelled, and the regression coefficients were compared with the corresponding coefficients from the general population study. The first analysis resulted in a statistically significant mean difference of -0.012 (0.647 for patient VAS, 0.659 from the population value set). The second analysis found statistically significant differences between the coefficients for the EQ-5D health dimensions Pain/Discomfort, Mobility and Anxiety/Depression. Anxiety/Depression had the largest impact on the patient model compared with Pain/Discomfort in the general population model. A further regression analysis suggests that the magnitude of disagreement between patient self-rated VAS model and the population VAS model depends on the patients' condition.