Asian Journal Of Social Pharmacy

Abstract: Objective To make a comparison study between EQ-5D-5L and EQ-5D-3L in order to promote the application of EQ-5D-5L. Methods A survey of 240 respondents was done and the performance of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L was assessed according to the inconsistency and redistribution properties at all levels. The discriminatory power and sensitivity of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L were explored according to Shannon index (H’), Shannon evenness index (J’) and ceiling effect. And the reliability and validity of EQ-5D- 3L and EQ-5D-5L were analyzed according to Cronbach’α and criterion validity. Results and Conclusion The average inconsistent rate and size of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L were 2.33% and 1.04, respectively. Compared with EQ-5D-3L, the state of health of EQ- 5D-5L dropped from 74.17% to 65.42%, and the ceiling effect decreased as well. The Shannon indexes of all dimensions of EQ- 5D-5L were better than EQ-5D-3L. Except for pain/discomfort, the Shannon evenness indexes of EQ-5D-5L were also better than EQ-5D-3L. The Cronbach’α of EQ-5D-5L increased from 0.514 to 0.707. Except for self-care, the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient between EQ-5D-5L and EQ-VAS also increased. Therefore, EQ-5D-5L gains more advantages than EQ-5D-3L and should be promoted.

Key words: EQ-5D, ceiling effect, reliability, validity, value set