Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 6;19(1):76.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-021-01719-7.

EQ-5D-5L reference values for the German general elderly population

Ole Marten  1 , Wolfgang Greiner  2
Affiliations

EQ-5D-5L reference values for the German general elderly population

Ole Marten et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: Reference values are a helpful tool to facilitate comparisons of sampled values against a specified reference population. The aim is to describe the health profile and to provide visual analogue scale (EQ VAS) and utility reference values for the EQ-5D-5L from a normative sample of the general elderly population (65+) in Germany.

Methods: We analysed a sub-set of data from the German EQ-5D-5L valuation study using self-reported information based on EQ-5D-5L. We examined the share of respondents in each severity level per dimension as well as means, standard deviations (SD) and 95% confidence intervals for the index and EQ VAS values stratified by age groups and gender. Age was categorised in four groups (65-69, 70-74, 75-79 and > 79 years) to facilitate a more detailed examination of age-related health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Results: The average index and EQ VAS scores were 0.84 (SD 0.22) and 73.2 (SD 18.5), respectively. In total, 21.4% reported no problems in all dimensions. With higher age, health problems were reported more frequently, which, in turn, lead to monotonically decreasing index and EQ VAS values. Overall, men reported fewer problems than women and this difference was largest beyond the age of 80.

Conclusion: HRQoL in the oldest old appears to be less stable and differs from the young elderly. However, the conventional age categorisation of earlier population norms studies seems to mask these differences. Hence, the more detailed provision of EQ-5D-5L reference values for the elderly population seems helpful for future German studies.

Keywords: EQ-5D-5L; Health state utilities; Health-related quality of life; Population norms; Reference values.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

OM and WG are members of the EuroQol Group. There are no other competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
German EQ-5D-5L average utility and VAS values by age groups and gender
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

  • Health-related quality of life measured with the EQ-5D-5L: estimation of normative index values based on a representative German population sample and value set.
    Grochtdreis T, Dams J, König HH, Konnopka A. Grochtdreis T, et al. Eur J Health Econ. 2019 Aug;20(6):933-944. doi: 10.1007/s10198-019-01054-1. Epub 2019 Apr 27. Eur J Health Econ. 2019. PMID: 31030292
  • EQ-5D-5L Bulgarian population norms.
    Encheva M, Djambazov S, Vekov T, Golicki D. Encheva M, et al. Eur J Health Econ. 2020 Nov;21(8):1169-1178. doi: 10.1007/s10198-020-01225-5. Epub 2020 Aug 19. Eur J Health Econ. 2020. PMID: 32813084
  • Health-related quality of life measured using the EQ-5D-5L: South Australian population norms.
    McCaffrey N, Kaambwa B, Currow DC, Ratcliffe J. McCaffrey N, et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2016 Sep 20;14(1):133. doi: 10.1186/s12955-016-0537-0. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2016. PMID: 27644755 Free PMC article.
  • Population Norms for the EQ-5D.
    Janssen B, Szende A. Janssen B, et al. 2013 Sep 26. In: Szende A, Janssen B, Cabases J, editors. Self-Reported Population Health: An International Perspective based on EQ-5D [Internet]. Dordrecht (NL): Springer; 2014. Chapter 3. 2013 Sep 26. In: Szende A, Janssen B, Cabases J, editors. Self-Reported Population Health: An International Perspective based on EQ-5D [Internet]. Dordrecht (NL): Springer; 2014. Chapter 3. PMID: 29787189 Free Books & Documents. Review.
  • Data and Methods.
    Janssen B, Szende A, Ramos-Goñi JM. Janssen B, et al. 2013 Sep 26. In: Szende A, Janssen B, Cabases J, editors. Self-Reported Population Health: An International Perspective based on EQ-5D [Internet]. Dordrecht (NL): Springer; 2014. Chapter 2. 2013 Sep 26. In: Szende A, Janssen B, Cabases J, editors. Self-Reported Population Health: An International Perspective based on EQ-5D [Internet]. Dordrecht (NL): Springer; 2014. Chapter 2. PMID: 29787188 Free Books & Documents. Review.
See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Helter TM, Coast J, Łaszewska A, Stamm T, Simon J. Capability instruments in economic evaluations of health-related interventions: a comparative review of the literature. Qual Life Res. 2020;29:1433–1464. doi: 10.1007/s11136-019-02393-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brazier J, Ratcliffe J, Salomon JA, Tsuchiya A. Measuring and valuing health benefits for economic evaluation. 2. New York: Oxford Univ. Pr; 2017.
    1. Brazier JE, Rowen D, Lloyd A, Karimi M. Future directions in valuing benefits for estimating QALYs: is time up for the EQ-5D? Value Health. 2019;22:62–68. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2018.12.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Singh J, Pokhrel S, Longworth L. Can social care needs and well-being be explained by the EQ-5D? Analysis of the health survey for England. Value Health. 2018;21:830–838. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2018.01.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Makai P, Brouwer WBF, Koopmanschap MA, Stolk EA, Nieboer AP. Quality of life instruments for economic evaluations in health and social care for older people: a systematic review. Soc Sci Med. 2014;102:83–93. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.11.050. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources