A comparison of EQ-5D time trade-off values obtained in Germany, The United Kingdom and Spain

Abstract

EQ-5D has been valued using a standardised TTO by general population samples in 3 different European countries: Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom (Badia et al, 2001; Claes et al,1999; Dolan, 1997). This has created an opportunity to compare TTO values for health states between countries. These types of comparisons are rare and those submitted or publicised are bilateral (Badia et al, 2001; Claes et al, 1999). Moreover, such comparisons do not usually involve the general public (Bleichrodt & Johannesson 1997) and tend to use VAS instead of TTO. For this reason, little is known about variations in health state valuations between countries using TTO. Hence it is not known if the results of decision analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses involving utility measurement in 1 country can be generalised to other countries. It would thus be helpful if more were known about international differences in TTO values. In this chapter, we report on the mutual efforts of several research groups within the EuroQol Group to make an international comparison of TTO values. On the basis of this comparison, general guidelines are formulated for the exchangeability of TTO value sets between different countries.