Mapping of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) to theEQ-5D-5L in the General Thai Population.

Abstract

This study aimed at mapping the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) and the EQ-5D-5L in the general Thai population and to determine the impact on the incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) through five hypothetical scenarios. A total of 1,200 Thai participants were randomly allocated into the 'estimation' and 'validation' groups. A curve estimation with nine regression models was performed to identify the best-fit regression model of significant WHOQOL-BREF dimension scores for the EQ-5D-5L index score predictions in the estimation group. The identified model was then used for the calculation of the predicted EQ-5D-5L index scores in the validation group. The percentage change from the hypothetical base-case scenario with predefined parameters was used to determine the impact on the ICUR. An inverse model was the best-fit regression model to predict the EQ-5D-5L index scores. The absolute difference between the predicted and observed index scores was 0.064, and the percentage of the sample that was mispredicted by ≥0.05 and ≥0.1 was 43.8% and 16.8%, respectively. Moreover, the percentage change in ICUR ranged between 0.13 and 1.84% from the hypothetical base-case scenario. An inverse relationship between the studied scores was identified. The minimal impact on the ICUR suggests that the Health Utility Index of the mapped equation can be applied to economic analyses.