Value Set for the EQ-5D-Y-3L in Hungary

The Hungarian health technology assessment guidelines recommend the use of the EuroQol instrument family in quality-adjusted life-year calculations. However, no national value set exists for the EQ-5D-Y-3L or any other youth-specific instrument.

This study aims to develop a national value set of the EQ-5D-Y-3L for Hungary based on preferences of the general adult population.

This study followed the international valuation protocol for the EQ-5D-Y-3L. Two independent samples, representative of the Hungarian general adult population in terms of age and sex were recruited to complete online discrete choice experiment (DCE) tasks and composite time trade-off (cTTO) tasks by computer-assisted personal interviews. Adults valued hypothetical EQ-5D-Y-3L health states considering the health of a 10-year-old child. DCE data were modelled using a mixed logit model with random-correlated coefficients. Latent DCE utility estimates were mapped onto mean observed cTTO utilities using ordinary least squares regression.

Overall, 996 and 200 respondents completed the DCE and cTTO surveys, respectively. For each domain, the value set resulted in larger utility decrements with more severe response levels. The relative importance of domains by level 3 coefficients was as follows: having pain or discomfort > feeling worried, sad or unhappy > mobility > doing usual activities > looking after myself. Overall, 12.3% of all health states had negative utilities in the value set, with the worst health state having the lowest predicted utility of - 0.485.

This study developed a national value set of the EQ-5D-Y-3L for Hungary. The value set enables to evaluate the cost utility of health technologies for children and adolescents based on societal preferences in Hungary.