Health Utility Decrement of Injection Treatment-Related Attributes Using Time Trade-Off Among Type 2 Diabetes
Xinran Liu1,2, Chang Luo1,2, Shitong Xie3,4
1School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
Pharmacoeconomics - Open
|November 8, 2025
Summary
Severe hypoglycemia and frequent injections significantly reduce health utility for Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). These findings highlight key treatment attributes impacting patient quality of life.
Area of Science:
- Health Economics
- Diabetes Mellitus Management
- Patient-Reported Outcomes
Background:
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) management in China often involves injectable treatments.
- Understanding patient preferences for treatment attributes is crucial for optimizing care and improving quality of life.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the health utility decrements associated with various injection treatment attributes in Chinese patients with T2DM.
- To inform healthcare policy and treatment guidelines by identifying key factors influencing patient well-being.
Main Methods:
- A vignette-based method was used to assess four attributes: hypoglycemia, dose frequency, flexibility, and injection site reaction.
- Time trade-off (TTO) tasks were administered to 400 T2DM patients across eight Chinese cities.
- Ordinary least square (OLS), fixed effects (FE), and random effects (RE) models analyzed TTO data, with subgroup analyses conducted.
Main Results:
- Severe hypoglycemia yielded the largest disutility value (-0.023).
- More frequent injections (three times daily: -0.023; twice daily: -0.018; once daily: -0.011) showed greater disutility compared to once weekly.
- Injection site reactions also contributed to disutility (-0.013).
Conclusions:
- Hypoglycemia and dose frequency are the most significant attributes impacting health utility for Chinese T2DM patients on injection therapy.
- Flexibility and injection site reactions also play a role, with relative importance varying by patient characteristics.
- These disutility values provide valuable insights for treatment decision-making and health economic evaluations.
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