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
. 2022 Jan 6;12(1):e048176.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-048176.

Longitudinal study of patients' health-related quality of life using EQ-5D-3L in 11 Swedish National Quality Registers

Fitsum Sebsibe Teni  1 , Ola Rolfson  2   3   4 , Nancy Devlin  5   6 , David Parkin  6   7 , Emma Nauclér  4 , Kristina Burström  2   8   9 ; Swedish Quality Register (SWEQR) Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Longitudinal study of patients' health-related quality of life using EQ-5D-3L in 11 Swedish National Quality Registers

Fitsum Sebsibe Teni et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: To compare problems reported in the five EQ-5D-3L dimensions and EQ VAS scores at baseline and at 1-year follow-up among different patient groups and specific diagnoses in 11 National Quality Registers (NQRs) and to compare these with the general population.

Design: Longitudinal, descriptive study.

Participants: 2 66 241 patients from 11 NQRs and 49 169 participants from the general population were included in the study.

Primary and secondary outcome measures: Proportions of problems reported in the five EQ-5D-3L dimensions, EQ VAS scores of participants' own health and proportions of participants and mean/median EQ VAS score in the Paretian Classification of Health Change (PCHC) categories.

Results: In most of the included registers, and the general population, problems with pain/discomfort were the most frequently reported at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Mean EQ VAS score (SD) ranged from 45.2 (22.4) among disc hernia patients to 88.1 (15.3) in wrist and hand fracture patients at baseline. They ranged from 48.9 (20.9) in pulmonary fibrosis patients to 83.3 (17.4) in wrist and hand fracture patients at follow-up. The improved category of PCHC, improvement in at least one dimension without deterioration in any other, accounted for the highest proportion in several diagnoses, corresponding with highest improvement in mean EQ VAS score.

Conclusions: The study documented self-reported health of several different patient groups using the EQ-5D-3L in comparing with the general population. This demonstrated the important role of patient-reported outcomes in routine clinical care, to assess and follow-up health status and progress within different groups of patients. The EQ-5D-3L descriptive system and EQ VAS have an important role in providing a 'common denominator', allowing comparisons across NQRs and specific diagnoses.

Trial registration number: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04359628).

Keywords: health economics; internal medicine; orthopaedic & trauma surgery.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: KB, ND and DP are members of the EuroQol Group. KB reports grants from EuroQol Research Foundation, grants from Region Stockholm, during the conduct of the study; personal fees from Region Stockholm, outside the submitted work. ML reports personal fees from Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals, outside the submitted work. OR reports institutional compensation for educational consultancy from Link Sweden; institutional compensation for research consultancy from Pfizer, outside the submitted work. AA, ME, MF, PF, ÅJ, MM, EN, MR, BR, MS-E, FST, AW-D and JV declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportion of patients by Paretian Classification of Health Change (PCHC), by diagnosis in the 11 National Quality Registers (NQRs). BOA, Better management of patients with Osteoarthritis; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; OA, osteoarthritis; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean EQ VAS score by diagnosis at baseline and 1-year follow-up in the nine National Quality Registers (NQRs) and the general population. BOA, Better management of patients with Osteoarthritis; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; OA, osteoarthritis. EQ VAS is the visual anaogue scale component of the EQ-5D questionnaire.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Two-level random intercept model estimates of EQ VAS score by diagnosis adjusted for age and sex at baseline and 1 year in the nine National Quality Registers (NQRs) [reference group: general population]. BOA, Better management of patients with Osteoarthritis; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; OA, osteoarthritis. EQ VAS is the visual anaogue scale component of the EQ-5D questionnaire.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean EQ VAS score by Paretian Classification of Health Change (PCHC) by diagnosis in the nine National Quality Registers (NQRs). BOA, Better management of patients with Osteoarthritis; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; OA, osteoarthritis. EQ VAS is the visual anaogue scale component of the EQ-5D questionnaire.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Appleby J, Devlin N, Parkin D. Using patient reported outcomes to improve health care. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
    1. Brooks R, Boye KS, Slaap B. EQ-5D: a plea for accurate nomenclature. J Patient Rep Outcomes 2020;4:52. 10.1186/s41687-020-00222-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rabin R, de Charro F. EQ-5D: a measure of health status from the EuroQol group. Ann Med 2001;33:337–43. 10.3109/07853890109002087 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Feng Y, Parkin D, Devlin NJ. Assessing the performance of the EQ-VAS in the NHS PROMs programme. Qual Life Res 2014;23:977–89. 10.1007/s11136-013-0537-z - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Parkin D, Rice N, Jacoby A, et al. Use of a visual analogue scale in a daily patient diary: modelling cross-sectional time-series data on health-related quality of life. Soc Sci Med 2004;59:351–60. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2003.10.015 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data