EQ-5D: Ministry of Health applies instrument developed by CEISUC
Ministry of Health applies instrument developed by CEISUC researchers to assess health gains
A health outcomes measurement instrument based on the preferences of the Portuguese population, developed by a team of researchers of the Centre for Health Studies and Research of the University of Coimbra (CEISUC), was adopted by the Ministry of Health as a reference instrument to assess health-related quality of life, when measuring and valuing health outcomes.
In practice, this instrument - designated EQ-5D-5L in Portuguese -, referred to in point 9 in Ordinance no. 391/2019, of 30 October, defines the principles and characterization of the Methodological Guidelines for Economic Evaluation Studies of Health Technologies, supports decision-making in the processes of financing by the National Health Service (NHS), namely in the processes of reimbursement, assessment and re-evaluation of health technologies.
The CEISUC team, led by Pedro Lopes Ferreira and composed by Patrícia Antunes, Lara Ferreira and Luís Pereira, developed an econometric model that allows obtaining a value system for the Portuguese reality from the EQ-5D-5L, a generic instrument for assessing health-related quality of life, with rules defined by the EuroQol Group.
To produce and validate the instrument implemented by the Ministry of Health, the CEISUC team conducted a survey with a representative sample of the general population of Portugal, consisting of 1451 people of both genders and various age groups (18 to 29; 30 to 49; 50 to 69; ≥ 70), covering urban and rural areas.
Data were collected through individual interviews conducted in respondents' homes, computer-assisted, following the strict EuroQol Valuation Technology protocol to ensure data reliability. Each interview comprised the assessment of 10 health states, described on the basis of the 5 dimensions of the EQ-5D-5L.
The study, with the collaboration of researchers from Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, was part of an international EuroQoL project that aims to obtain country-specific sets of EQ-5D-5L values and was published in the journal Quality of Life Research.