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Assessment of the Construct Validity of the EQ-5D in Patients with Acute Cough/Lower Respiratory Tract Infections

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Abstract

Although EQ-5D has been used in the context of acute cough/lower respiratory tract infections (acute cough/LRTI), it has not been formally validated in this disease area. The primary aim of this study is to assess the construct validity of EQ-5D as a measure for economic evaluation in the context of acute cough/lower respiratory tract infections. Data were collected alongside an observational study of the management of patients with acute cough/LRTI in thirteen European countries. However, the analysis was limited to 349 patients from the UK. Hypotheses were specified a priori and tested in order to establish the construct validity of EQ-5D. Statistical methods used to test the a priori hypotheses included Wilcoxon signed rank sum test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Chi-square test and regression analysis. Most of the relationships that were tested were in line with the a priori hypotheses. The main results indicate that there was a negative relationship between symptom severity scores and EQ-5D, smoking was associated with worse EQ-5D scores and EQ-5D was able to discriminate between patients with headache, interference with normal activities and disturbed sleep. This study also showed that the EQ-5D is moderately responsive in patients with acute cough/LRTI, and is a suitable measure for use in economic evaluation studies of acute cough/LRTI

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded as part of the GRACE (Genomics to combat resistance against antibiotics in community-acquired LRTI in Europe), a European Commission funded project within the Sixth Framework Programme, reference number LSHM-CT-2005-518226.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Economics Unit, School of Health & Population Sciences, Public Health Building, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Raymond Oppong, Billingsley Kaambwa & Joanna Coast

  2. South East Wales Trials Unit, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, School of Medicine, Cardiff University Neuadd Merionnydd, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4YS, UK

    Jacqui Nuttall & Kerenza Hood

  3. Department of Global Health and Development, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK

    Richard D. Smith

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  1. Raymond Oppong
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  2. Billingsley Kaambwa
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  3. Jacqui Nuttall
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  4. Kerenza Hood
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  5. Richard D. Smith
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  6. Joanna Coast
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On behalf of the GRACE-01 Study Team

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Correspondence to Raymond Oppong.

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Oppong, R., Kaambwa, B., Nuttall, J. et al. Assessment of the Construct Validity of the EQ-5D in Patients with Acute Cough/Lower Respiratory Tract Infections. Applied Research Quality Life 6, 411–423 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-011-9137-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-011-9137-7

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