Comparing measurement properties of EQ-5D and SF-6D in East and South-East Asian populations: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Euro-Qol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) and Short-Form 6-Dimension (SF-6D) are the most commonly used generic multi-attribute utility instruments (MAUI) to calculate quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) in East and South-East Asia. This study aims to systematically review and summarize current evidence on comparing measurement properties of EQ-5D and SF-6D in East and South-East Asian populations.

Areas covered

Guided by the PRISMA systematic review and meta-analysis guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in databases of PubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL (until June 2022) to obtain studies which compared measurement properties (feasibility, reliability, validity, responsiveness, and sensitivity) and agreement of EQ-5D and SF-6D in the populations.

Expert opinion

In general, both EQ-5D and SF-6D had good measurement properties in East and South-East Asian populations; but their utility scores cannot be used interchangeably. Compared to the 3-level EQ-5D, SF-6D had better sensitivity and lower ceiling effects, but the comparison results between the 5-level EQ-5D and SF-6D were inconsistent across populations. This scoping review found that most studies did not consider order effects, did not specify the versions of SF-6D, and ignored certain measurement properties (reliability, content validity, and responsiveness). These aspects need to be further explored in future studies.

KEYWORDS:

• EQ-5D
• East and South-East Asian
• measurement properties
• SF-6D

Article highlights

• In general, EQ-5D and SF-6D had good feasibility, convergent and known-groups validity in East and South-East Asian populations.

• EQ-5D and SF-6D utility scores cannot be used interchangeably, thus it is best to use the same instrument in an economic analysis or decision model.

• Compared to the 3-level EQ-5D, SF-6D had better sensitivity and lower ceiling effects, but the comparison results between 5-level EQ-5D and SF-6D were inconsistent in the populations.

• The majority of the studies did not consider the order effects of the two instruments and did not specify the SF-6D version.

• This review did not discuss the value sets for the different countries used for each study, which is a limitation.

Acknowledgments

We thank all those who have participated in and helped with this study.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Data availability statement

All data presented in this study are included in the manuscript (and its supplementary information file).

Additional information

Funding

The study has been sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No.:72274037) awarded to P Wang.