OBJECTIVES : This pilot study aims to assess the feasibility and validity of EQ-5D-Y using discrete choice experiment (DCE) in Hong Kong adolescents.

METHODS : A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two selected local secondary schools. Cantonese-speaking adolescents aged 11-17 were invited to participate in a self-administrated survey. The layout of tool and instruction of filling survey were provided before survey. The tool included four parts: descriptive system of EQ-5D-Y; 15 pairs of health states involved DCE that were randomly chosen from a pool of 125 health state plus 1 pair of DCE for quality check; three structured feedback questions to determine the participant’s understanding of EQ-5D-Y; and demographics information.

RESULTS : A total of 518 secondary students were recruited, however, only 510 cases were finally used for data analysis due to the incomplete responses. Findings revealed that majority of participants ( 86%) experienced no problem on Mobility, Looking after Self-Care and doing Usual Activities while a relative higher proportion of them experienced problems on Pain/ Discomfort (30%) and Anxiety/ Depression (46%). 87% of the respondents provided a valid scoring for the quality checking of DCE. For the feedback questions, nearly half of them expressed they had some difficulties in answering the DCE questions (53%), differentiating different health states (45%), and imaging the provided health status (41%).

CONCLUSIONS : Results provide a preliminary evidence on the feasibility of EQ-5D-Y with DCE in HK adolescent population. High proportion of valid scoring supports the feasibility of EQ-5D-Y ; however, the cultural adaptation study including interview method, the translation/ presentation of questionnaire and the number of DCE tasks is required to improve the quality of data. It is an important step before the valuation study of EQ-5D-Y.