Patient and societal value functions for the testing morbidities index

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Quality of Life Research
• Medical Decision Making

Background:

• Diagnostic testing can negatively impact patient quality of life.
• Existing methods for assessing short-term morbidities are limited.
• The Testing Morbidities Index (TMI) aims to classify these effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate preference-based and summated scale scoring for the TMI.
• To evaluate short-term quality of life effects associated with diagnostic testing.

Main Methods:

• Developed patient-based and societal preference functions using multiattribute value techniques.
• Employed visual analog scale (VAS) and waiting tradeoff (WTO) tolls for scoring.
• Conducted randomized surveys with breast biopsy patients and community subjects for validation.

Main Results:

• Correlations between direct VAS and VAS-scaled TMI ranged from r = 0.45-0.62.
• Agreement metrics were comparable to established health utility measures.
• WTO-scaled TMI showed close agreement with direct WTO tolls, around 1 quality-adjusted life day.

Conclusions:

• The TMI demonstrates potential as a valid tool for measuring short-term health states related to testing.
• Preference-based and summated scale scoring enhance TMI's utility.
• Further validation supports TMI's application in assessing testing-related morbidities.