Developing a Valuation Function for the Preference-Based Multiple Sclerosis Index: Comparison of Standard Gamble and...

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Patient-Reported Outcomes
• Decision Science

Background:

• Eliciting patient preferences for health states is crucial for decision-making in healthcare.
• The standard gamble (SG) and rating scale (RS) are common methods, but their comparative performance needs further investigation.
• Developing multi-attribute utility functions (MAUF) requires reliable preference data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the standard gamble (SG) and rating scale (RS) in reflecting patient preferences.
• To develop and validate a multi-attribute utility function (MAUF) for the Patient-Based Multiple Sclerosis Inventory (PBMSI).

Main Methods:

• Two samples were used: one for developing the MAUF (MAUFD) and another for validation (MAUFV).
• Preference weights were generated from cross-sectional data.
• The distribution of SG and RS values were compared, and correlations were analyzed using Bland-Altman plots.

Main Results:

• Mean RS values (0.39-0.65) were substantially lower than mean SG values (0.80-0.91).
• Correlations between SG and RS were very low (-0.29 to 0.15), indicating significant differences.
• Bland-Altman plots visually confirmed the extent of these differences.

Conclusions:

• The rating scale (RS) is recommended over the standard gamble (SG) for developing MAUFs in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients due to better feasibility and validity.
• The developed PBMSI, incorporating patient preferences, shows potential for measuring health-related quality of life in MS.
• These findings support the use of RS for informed clinical decision-making in MS.