Clara Mukuria, John Brazier and Barend van Hout have been successful in securing a new award worth £63,543 from the EURoQol group to carry out research into the comparative performance of the EQ-5D-5L to other measures in an older population with long term conditions (LTCs).
Formal and informal social care support are important inputs for individuals with LTCs as they can help maintain well-being even where health is not improving. Health related quality of life measures such as EQ-5D may capture some of the impact of social care but may miss out on aspects such as independence and control and new measures such as the ICECAP-O, ASCOT or well-being have been recommended as alternatives.
The overall aim of this study is to compare the new 5 level version of EQ-5D to these new ‘beyond health measures’ in a longitudinal study in order to examine the extent to which EQ-5D already captures the ‘beyond health’ domains covered in these measures. The study will add to the evidence base on the validity of the EQ-5D as well as other measures that are used to inform decision-making in health and social care.