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Performance of two measures of general health-related quality of life, the EQ-5D and the RAND-36 among critically ill patients

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Abstract

Objective

To compare two health-related quality of life measures, the preference-based EQ-5D with five questions and the profile-based RAND-36 with 36 questions, in previous critically ill patients.

Design

Prospective observational study.

Setting

A ten-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) in a tertiary care university hospital.

Patients

Of the 2,709 critically ill patients, treated during the years 1995–2000, the 1,099 patients of the 1,443 still alive who returned both mailed measures were included in the study.

Interventions

None.

Measurements and main results

The EQ-5D and the RAND-36 correlated well (P <.001). Ceiling effect was more obvious with the EQ-5D; the values of the RAND-36 varied usually from 0 to 100 in all the three levels of the corresponding EQ-5D question, and the weakest statistically significant differences were between the EQ levels 2 and 3. In particular, the RAND-36 proved to differentiate better the levels of mobility, self-care, and poor outcome.

Conclusions

The EQ-5D and the RAND-36 correlated well, but when more precisely stated information is needed, especially regarding mobility, self-care, or low quality of life levels of previous critically ill patients, the profile-based RAND-36 may discriminate better.

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Acknowledgement

We are very thankful to S. Sarna for statistical advice

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Meilahti Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital, P.O. Box 340, 00029, Finland

    Anne Kaarlola & Ville Pettilä

  2. Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Pertti Kekki

Authors
  1. Anne Kaarlola
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  2. Ville Pettilä
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  3. Pertti Kekki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anne Kaarlola.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Appendices

Appendix 1

The EQ-5D questionnaire: http://www.euroqol.org

Appendix 2

The RAND-36 questionnaire: http://www.rand.org/health/surveys/sf36item/questionnaire.html

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Kaarlola, A., Pettilä, V. & Kekki, P. Performance of two measures of general health-related quality of life, the EQ-5D and the RAND-36 among critically ill patients. Intensive Care Med 30, 2245–2252 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-004-2471-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-004-2471-6

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