An important consideration for studies that derive preference values or utilities using multi-attribute utility measures is the psychometric integrity of the measurement approach. Of particular importance is the requirement to establish whether multi-attribute utility measures generate utility scores that, in practice, reflect people’s preferences. We compared the empirical validity of EQ-5D versus SF-6D utility scores among participants of the 1996 Health Survey for England.

The study demonstrated that the SF-6D is an empirically valid and efficient alternative multi-attribute utility measure to the EQ-5D, and is capable of discriminating between external indicators of health status. The results of this study were published in Health Economics in November 2005.

Publications

Petrou, S and Hockley, C (2005). An investigation into the empirical validity of the EQ-5D and SF-6D based on hypothetical preferences in a general population. Health Econ 14(11):1169-89.

	Economic Evaluation of Healthcare Technologies/Methodology in Economic Evaluation
	Measurement and Valuation of Health Outcomes/Mapping Studies