Eliciting Social Preference Weights for Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung Health States

Authors: Kind, Paul; Macran, Susan

Source: PharmacoEconomics, Volume 23, Number 11, 2005 , pp. 1143-1153(11)

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Abstract:

Background: The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L) is a multidimensional measure of quality of life developed for use in the evaluation of interventions in lung cancer.

Objective: To develop a set of utility weights that could be used to convert FACT-L into a single index capable of being used in the economic analysis of clinical trial data.

Method: A core set of FACT-L items were valued in two versions of a 14-page postal survey of over 400 members of the UK general population. Respondents valued hypothetical FACT-L health states using a scale from 0 to 100 (worst to best health state). Respondents also valued their own health using the standard form of the EuroQol EQ-5D. Data were entered into an ordinary least squares regression model.

Results: Item weights estimated in regression analysis yielded values for 10 items from the FACT-L. The summary index based on this selected set of FACT-L items has a maximum value of 0.703 and a minimum value of 0.111.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates a practical method of converting a standard condition-specific measure into a form that has the requisite properties to legitimise its use in cost-utility analysis. The methodology used here is not unique to FACT-L and might be considered appropriate for use in converting similar instruments.

Keywords: Lung cancer; Quality of life rating scales; Utility measurement

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Outcomes Research Group, Centre for Health Economics, Alcuin College, University of York, York, UK

Publication date: 2005-01-01