OBJECTIVES: Pregnancy is associated with significant changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, prior research has not assessed HRQoL using the Patient-reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS). This study describes HRQoL from months five to post-partum and provides evidence of convergent validity of PROMIS item banks with the Health Utilities Index (HUI) and EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) measures.

METHODS: Participants were community adults with a pregnancy of at least 20 weeks of gestation at the time of enrollment. Participants completed the EQ5D, HUI, and seven PROMIS short forms (i.e., the four-item Depression, Anxiety, Physical Function, Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance, Ability to Participate in Social Roles, and Pain Interference scales). Participants also provided their age, race, ethnicity, and week of gestation. Surveys were repeated monthly. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were used to evaluate scale properties.

RESULTS: 135 participants completed up to four monthly assessments, with 61 participants completing a post-partum assessment, resulting in a total of 458 assessments. Descriptive analysis of PROMIS items banks demonstrates important changes over time with decrements in PROMIS mean scores for Physical Function from months five (49.8) to nine (43.0); Pain Interference at months five (48.8) to nine (55.1) and Sleep Disturbance at months five (50.4) to nine (54.7) demonstrating the greatest change over time. Bivariate correlations between PROMIS, HUI, and EQ5D depression (r=.59, r=.70), PROMIS, HUI, and EQ5D Pain Interference (r=.84, r=.85), PROMIS Anxiety, HUI Emotion, and EQ5D Anxiety (r=.61, r=.70); and PROMIS Physical Function, HUI Ambulation, and EQ5D Usual Activities (r=.61, r=-.74) were significantly correlated with moderate to strong linear relationships.

CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to demonstrate patterns of change during pregnancy using PROMIS items banks as well as evidence demonstrating the convergent validity between PROMIS, HUI, and EQ5D measures of HRQoL in pregnancy.