ABSTRACT
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate health state utility values in eight health states related to osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures using time trade-off (TTO) technique among postmenopausal Korean women.
Methods: Scenarios describing eight health states including osteoporosis and hip, vertebral, post-hip, post-vertebral, ankle, humerus, and wrist fractures were developed and presented to 500 female participants aged 45 to 59 years who were selected with probability proportionate to age group and region for this investigation. Each health states valuation was derived using the trade-off (TTO) technique. Ten years of a given health state was traded off with a shorter length of time in full health.
Results: Mean scores of each state were calculated. Osteoporosis scored the highest (0.669 ± 0.155), followed by wrist fracture (0.656 ± 0.151). Hip (0.298 ± 0.158) and vertebral (0.298 ± 0.160) fractures were found to be the worst health states. Post-hip (0.446 ± 0.159) and post-vertebral fractures (0.455 ± 0.160) were also considered undesirable states. All fractures were associated with disutilities, ranging from a mean of −0.013 to −0.371. These values were statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Hip and vertebral fractures are among the most serious consequences of osteoporotic fractures.
Conclusions: The vertebral and hip fractures marked the lowest utility scores among post-menopausal women in Korea.
Article Highlights
Osteoporotic fractures are becoming a major cause of disability and complications among the elderly population.
Health state utility values for osteoporosis and fractures differ according to the expectations and values of the people, community, and even culture. Thus, it is recommended that health state utility weights for quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) be measured and used in the context of each country.
There are insufficient studies that explored HRQoL in osteoporotic fractures in Korea, despite the increase of osteoporosis in the aged society.
All fractures were associated with disutilities in the context of osteoporosis. Hip and vertebral fractures are among the most serious consequences of osteoporotic fractures.
To establish a localized data for various types of fracture as well as post-hip and post-vertebral fractures may improve an understanding of HRQoL of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal Korean women.
Health state utility values for osteoporosis and fractures will be useful reference data for health technology assessment.
Declaration of interest
J An, J Park and H Yang are currently employed by Amgen Korea.
Reviewer Disclosures
Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.
Author contributions
HYK and GB conceived the design of this study. GB and HYK undertook the analysis of data interpreted results and preparation of the manuscript. EGK was actively involved in the data analysis and contributed to the interpretation of the results. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.