How To Value Complex Health States

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 16 Mar 2009 - 7:00 PDT

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Conventional health state valuation methods do not apply to complex health states with multiple tradeoffs, thereby hampering decision making, such as the case in obstetrics.

In a recent study, Denise Bijlenga, Erwin Birnie, and Gouke Bonsel rebuilt health as it is in the patient's and doctor's minds, comprising health of mother and infant, short and long-term health, common and rare, as well as mild and severe symptoms. Then they compared three widely used health state valuation methods for a set of complex, real-life obstetrical health states.

The results indicated that complex health states with multiple outcomes are best valued with easy-to-respond methods like Visual Analogue Scale and Discrete Choice Experimentation.

The study, "Feasibility, reliability, and validity of three health-state valuation methods using multiple-outcome vignettes on moderate-risk pregnancy at term", was recently published in Value in Health.

Bijlenga adds: "We were surprised that Discrete Choice Experimentation and Visual Analogue Scale performed rather well. Even lay people were able to perform these rather challenging and demanding tasks consistently. The high-quality health descriptions probably play a major role in this success."

Value in Health (ISSN 1098-3015) publishes papers, concepts, and ideas that advance the field of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research and help health care leaders to make decisions that are solidly evidence-based. The journal is published bi-monthly and has a regular readership of over 4,000 clinicians, decision-makers, and researchers worldwide.

ISPOR is a nonprofit, international organization that strives to translate pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research into practice to ensure that society allocates scarce health care resources wisely, fairly, and efficiently.

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ISPOR