Health Utilities Using the EQ-5D in Studies of Cancer

Abstract

Cancer is one of the most frequent disease-specific applications of the EQ-5D. The objective of this review was to summarise evidence to support the validity and reliability of the EQ-5D in cancer, and to provide a catalogue of utility scores based on the use of the EQ-5D in clinical trials and in studies of patients with cancer. A structured literature search was conducted in EMBASE and MEDLINE to identify papers using key words related to cancer and the EQ-5D. Original research studies of patients with cancer that reported EQ-5D psychometric properties, responses and/or summary scores were included. Of 57 identified articles, 34 were selected for inclusion, where 12 studies reported evidence of validity or reliability and 31 reported EQ-5D responses or summary scores. The majority of investigations using the EQ-5D concerned patients with prostate cancer (n = 4), breast cancer (n = 4), cancers of the digestive system (n = 7) and Hodgkin and/or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 3). Mean index based scores ranged from 0.33 (SD 0.4) to 0.93 (SD 0.12) and visual analogue scale scores ranged from 43 (SD 13.3) to 84 (SD 12.0) across subtypes of cancer. A substantial and growing body of literature using the EQ-5D in cancer that supports the validity and reliability of EQ-5D in cancer has emerged. This review provides utility estimates for cancer patients across a wide range of cancer subtypes, treatment regimens and tumour stage(s) that may inform the modelling of outcomes in economic evaluations of cancer treatment.