Health utility of type 2 diabetes patients using basal insulin in China: results from the BEYOND II study

To derive the health utility scores of type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients using basal insulin (BI) with diverse characteristics in China.

The study used the data of insulin-using T2D patients on BI treatment enrolled in the BEYOND II study, which is a multi-center, observational study from 78 hospitals nationwide. The 3-level EQ-5D (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire was administered to each patient to derive their health utility scores using the EQ-5D-3L value set for China. Patients' clinical and sociodemographic information were retrieved from their electronic case report form (eCRF). Ordinary least-square models with different specifications were explored to identify the best-fitting model to predict the utility scores.

The sample (n = 12,583) achieved a mean (standard deviation) EQ-5D-3L utility score of 0.936 (0.120). According to the model, a Chinese male who was younger than 59 years, not underweight, diagnosed with T2D shorter than 10 years, with controlled plasma glucose and free of diabetes complications/comorbidities, would have a mean utility of 0.993. Being female, older age, underweight, and higher plasma glucose, longer diabetes duration was negatively related to EQ-5D-3L scores. Comorbidities and seven of eleven complications were associated with utility decrement. Interactions between some complications were also discovered.

The derived health utility scores for diabetes complications could facilitate the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of health interventions for Chinese insulin-using T2D patients.