Objective To systematically review the health utility scores for patients with breast cancer in China. Methods PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang Data, CBM and VIP databases were searched from inception to November, 2016 to collect studies for health utility scores for breast cancer in China. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 12.0 software. Results A total of 6 studies were included. Compared with modeling studies, the range of utility scores from cross-sectional studies was narrower. The results of meta-analysis showed the utility scores for breast cancer were 0.77 (95%CI 0.67 to 0.87), 0.77 (95%CI 0.68 to 0.86) at stage 0 to Ⅰ, 0.76 (95%CI 0.66 to 0.85) at stage Ⅱ, 0.74 (95%CI 0.65 to 0.83) at stage Ⅲ and 0.73 (95%CI 0.65 to 0.81) at stage Ⅳ, respectively. Meanwhile, we descripted the median of utility scores of all studies, and the corresponding values were 0.81 (range 0.65 to 0.83), 0.82 (range 0.65 to 1.00) at stage 0, 0.82 (range 0.65 to 0.90) at stage Ⅰ, 0.77 (range 0.67 to 0.86) at stage Ⅱ, 0.70 (range 0.64 to 0.82) at stage Ⅲ and 0.70 (range 0.30 to 0.80) at stage Ⅳ, respectively. Conclusion Research on the health utility scores of breast cancer is still limited in China. Utility scores are decreasing among different clinical stages, with lowest score at late stage cancer. These findings can be used in further cost-utility evaluation on various breast cancer interventions.
ObjectivesTo systematically review the health utility scores and disability weights of liver cancer and related diseases in China.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang Data, CBM and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect the studies of health utility scores and disability weights of liver cancer and related diseases in China from inception to November, 2017. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0 software.ResultsA total of 9 studies were included which covered 10 related diseases, among which chronic hepatitis B, compensated cirrhosis, decompensated cirrhosis and liver cancer were the mostly reported. The overall quality was adequate, and EQ-5D was the most common tool in these studies. Results of meta-analysis showed that healthy utility scores of the four common diseases were 0.789 (0.735, 0.843), 0.734 (0.693, 0.776), 0.647 (0.627, 0.666) and 0.636 (0.508, 0.765), respectively. Measures from EQ-5D were 0.825 (0.762, 0.868), 0.761 (0.731, 0.791), 0.643 (0.620, 0.666) and 0.620 (0.473, 0.766), respectively. In addition, the corresponding median (range) utility scores of the four diseases were found to be 0.758 (0.520–0.950), 0.716 (0.570–0.900), 0.538 (0.260–0.662) and 0.541(0.310–0.720). Only one disability weight study was concluded (0.360–0.900 reported for liver cancer).ConclusionIn Chinese population, current evidences on health utility of liver cancer and related diseases are limited, particularly data on disability weights. Utility values from meta-analysis seems more optimistic and centralized than those from descriptive analysis. Different survey tools yield varying outcomes, and attentions should be addressed to their application. The decrease of heath utility scores with the severity of liver disease suggests that early prevention, early diagnosis and treatment can save more years of life with enhanced quality.
The multi-attribute utility function (MAUF) is a commonly used method for measuring health utility, characterized by a solid theoretical foundation and operational feasibility. It contributes to reducing the cognitive burden on respondents, caters to the measurement of utility across multiple dimensions, and represents another most widely applied approach beyond traditional econometrics, warranting exploration and application. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive and systematic research on this method in China, with insufficient practical application experience. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to systematically explore the methodological background of MAUF and the key points of research design for measuring health utility using this method. By drawing on the utility measurement experiences from internationally developed measurement scales such as HUI 1, HUI 2, HUI 3, 15D, AQol-8D, ASUI, HUG-5, TOOL, and ALSUI, it systematically analyzes the critical steps in the practical implementation of the method. It is hoped that this work will comprehensively and clearly elaborate on the practical approaches of MAUF, promote the further development of MAUF in China, and provide methodological references for future studies on health utility measurement based on MAUF.