Estimating CHU-9D Utility Scores from the WAItE: A Mapping Algorithm for Economic Evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Patient-Reported Outcomes
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• The Weight-Specific Adolescent Instrument for Economic Evaluation (WAItE) assesses the impact of above-healthy weight on adolescent life.
• Current limitations prevent the use of WAItE for calculating quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in cost-utility analysis (CUA).

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine regression models for estimating Child Health Utility 9 Dimension (CHU-9D) utility scores from WAItE data.
• To enable QALY calculations for CUA in studies using the WAItE.

Main Methods:

• 975 adolescents completed the WAItE and CHU-9D.
• Nine regression models were evaluated, including ordinary least squares, Tobit, and a robust MM-estimator.
• Model predictive accuracy was assessed using mean absolute error (MAE) and mean squared error (MSE).

Main Results:

• The robust MM-estimator, using stepwise-selected WAItE items, demonstrated the highest predictive accuracy.
• This model effectively maps WAItE data to CHU-9D utility scores.

Conclusions:

• The developed mapping algorithm enables the estimation of health-state utilities from WAItE data.
• This facilitates cost-utility analysis in clinical studies that have only collected WAItE, enhancing economic evaluations in adolescent health.