Can EQ-5D and 15D be Used Interchangeably in Economic Evaluations? Assessing Quality of Life in Post-Stroke Patients

This paper provides an analysis on whether 15D and EQ-5D can be used interchangeably as health outcome measures in cost-effectiveness studies. The empirical performance of the two multi attribute utility instruments is tested in terms of feasibility, utility score, linear relationship and agreement by using a novel Norwegian data set. There is also provided an analysis of how the instruments rank individuals in terms of health status, and how they distinguish between an individual with a certain trait and not. The results show that EQ-5D and 15D cannot be used interchangeably in economic evaluations, and that EQ-5D is likely to give a more favourable cost utility ratio than 15D. The utility scores generated from the two instruments are significantly different from each other, even though they correlate well. The instruments also rank individuals in terms of health status differently.