Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: There were only a few studies that assessed Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study is to investigate the HRQoL scores of AD patients in Malaysia and identify predictors of patients’ HRQoL.
METHODS: Informal caregivers of patients with AD were recruited in 4 tertiary hospitals during outpatient visits. Patients’ HRQoL was assessed using proxy-rated generic (EQ5D5L and EQ-VAS,) and disease-specific (QoL-AD) assessment instruments were utilized to obtain proxy HRQoL scores of AD patients from caregivers via structured interviews. Pearson correlation test was conducted between the two instruments while multivariable linear regression model was utilized to identify predictors of HRQoL in AD patients.
RESULTS: Mean EQ-5D index, EQ-VAS and QOL-AD score of AD patients were 0.63±0.30, 61.05±20.48 and 26.69 ± 6.83 respectively via proxy-ratings. In terms of correlation, EQ-5D was weakly correlated with QOL-AD (r=0.36, p<0.01). EQ-5D index and QOL-AD score reduced significantly as AD advanced (p<0.05). Besides, cognitive decline, presence of behavioral symptoms, female caregiver gender and non-married status was associated with lower patients’ HRQoL in multivariate models with EQ-5D index (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Low HRQoL of AD patients requires attention from healthcare providers and stakeholders in optimal resource allocation and decision making. Such health utility values are useful in future economic evaluations in investigating the cost-effectiveness of new interventions or disease-modifying therapies.