EQ-5D self-reported health in Barbados and Jamaica with EQ-5D-5L population norms for the English-speaking Caribbean

Henry Bailey,Marjorie Wharton,Philip Castillo,Mathieu F Janssen,Althea La Foucade,Girjanauth Boodraj

doi:10.1186/s12955-021-01734-8

Abstract

BackgroundThe EQ-5D instrument is increasingly used in clinical and resource allocation decision making in developed and developing countries. EQ-5D valuation and population norms studies have been undertaken for Trinidad and Tobago, however no population norms or value sets have been generated for the other Caribbean countries. The aims of this study were to provide population norms for Barbados and Jamaica, and to develop a set of population norms that could be used by the other English-speaking Caribbean countries.MethodsThe EQ-5D-5L self-reported health questionnaire was included in surveys of representative samples of adults in Barbados and adults in Jamaica in 2013. EQ-5D health states, mean EQ VAS scores and mean EQ-5D-5L index values (using the Trinidad and Tobago value set) were calculated for demographic groups in both countries based on 2347 respondents from Barbados and 1423 from Jamaica. A set of ‘Caribbean’ norms were developed by combining the Barbados and Jamaica data with norms recently published for Trinidad and Tobago.ResultsData were obtained for 2347 and 1423 respondents in Barbados and Jamaica respectively. The mean index and EQ VAS values were 0.943 and 81.9 for Barbados, and 0.948 and 87.8 for Jamaica. The health states most commonly observed in the two countries were similar. Generally the demographic patterns of self-reported health were consistent with those found in other studies. Some differences between the countries were observed in the patterns of rates of reporting problems on the EQ-5D dimensions among age-gender groups specifically for anxiety/depression and pain/discomfortConclusionThis study has produced a set of EQ-5D population norms that can be used as base-line values in clinical and clinico-economic analyses for Barbados and Jamaica and for the English-Speaking Caribbean region.

Highlights

Economic evaluation continues to play an increasingly important role in resource allocation decision making [1]
The EQ-5D-5L self-reported health questionnaire was included in the 2013 cycle of the Adult Population Survey (APS) of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Study for Barbados and Jamaica
The findings along with those reported for Trinidad and Tobago [9] suggest that people in the English-Speaking Caribbean region report relatively high health related quality of life as captured by the EQ-5D descriptive system when compared to other countries

Summary

Introduction

Economic evaluation continues to play an increasingly important role in resource allocation decision making [1]. This extends from clinical decision-making to decisions about the introduction and/or scaling up of interventions. In order to use EQ-5D in ways such as these, clinicians, academics and policy makers often need reference or base-line values against which the health of different groups of people can be compared. These base-line values or’population norms’ reflect the health status of the general population [8]. The aims of this study were to provide population norms for Barbados and Jamaica, and to develop a set of population norms that could be used by the other English-speaking Caribbean countries

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion