OBJECTIVES: Most often value set used when calculating quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) is based on a representative sample of the general population. Having a severe disease may alter a person’s health preferences and thus experienced QALYs may differ from those that are estimated via standard methods. This study aims to elicit EQ-5D-5L valuations based on preferences elicited from a sample of patients who have survived a stay in a Danish intensive care unit (ICU) and to compare these with the preferences of the general population. Further, the heterogeneity in the ICU patients’ preferences will be investigated.

METHODS: The elicitation study will elicit EQ-5D-5L health state preferences from a sample of 300 respondents. All respondents have been enrolled in a trial during hospital stay in a Danish ICU. The preferences will be elicited using composite time trade-off based on the EuroQol Valuation Technology (EQ-VT), which is the method used to generate the EQ-5D-5L value set for the Danish general population.

RESULTS: The patient-based and the public-based EQ-5D-5L valuations will be compared. Potential underlying determinants of the ICU preferences will be investigated through analyses of demographic characteristics, time since the ICU stay, self-reported health, willingness to trade-off length of life for quality of life, health state reference dependency, and EQ-5D dimensions that patients have experienced themselves during their illness.

CONCLUSIONS: If the study finds no significant differences between the valuation of ICU patients and the general population, the existing practice of cost-utility analysis based on public-based valuations will be supported. On the other hand, if the preferences of this patient group are different to public preferences, then the QALYs calculated—and hence the treatment decisions made for this patient group—may not reflect what the patients actually prefer. Examinations of the heterogeneity of preferences will help understand why differences in preferences might occur.