German Value Set for the EQ-5D-5L

Abstract

Objectives

The objective of this study was to develop a value set for EQ-5D-5L based on the societal preferences of the German population. As the first country to do so, the study design used the improved EQ-5D-5L valuation protocol 2.0 developed by the EuroQol Group, including a feedback module as internal validation and a quality control process that was missing in the first wave of EQ-5D-5L valuation studies.

Methods

A representative sample of the general German population ( n = 1158) was interviewed using a composite time trade-off and a discrete choice experiment under close quality control. Econometric modeling was used to estimate values for all 3125 possible health states described by EQ-5D-5L. The value set was based on a hybrid model including all available information from the composite time trade-off and discrete choice experiment valuations without any exclusions due to data issues.

Results

The final German value set was constructed from a combination of a conditional logit model for the discrete choice experiment data and a censored at −1 Tobit model for the composite time trade-off data, correcting for heteroskedasticity. The value set had logically consistent parameter estimates ( p < 0.001 for all coefficients). The predicted EQ-5D-5L index values ranged from −0.661 to 1.

Conclusions

This study provided values for the health states of the German version of EQ-5D-5L representing the preferences of the German population. The study successfully employed for the first time worldwide the improved protocol 2.0. The value set enables the use of the EQ-5D-5L instrument in economic evaluations and in clinical studies.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s40273-018-0615-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.