OBJECTIVES

Ulcerative Colitis (UC) has a substantial impact on patients’ health related quality of life (HRQoL). Existing and emerging treatments for UC can impact HRQoL and are frequently evaluated by health technology assessment bodies, including the use of cost-effectiveness studies which require health state utility estimates to capture impacts on HRQoL. The aim of this study is to identify existing literature on health-state utilities in UC and summarize data with descriptive statistics and statistical pooling.

METHODS

We performed a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles using the MEDLINE database. The review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Our search strategy used keywords related to 3 areas: UC, quality of life, and utilities. Identified articles were scanned, relevant utilities extracted, data summarized using descriptive statistics, and meta-analysis conducted to provide summary estimates.

RESULTS

We identified 92 articles, of which 32 articles met inclusion criteria. Reported utilities were categorized into these health states: active UC of unspecified severity (range 0.62-0.90), mild UC (0.66-0.81), moderate-severe UC (0.14-0.90), postoperative (0.58-1.0), and remission (0.69-1.0). Utilities primarily originated from the US, UK, and Germany. The most common instrument used was the EQ-5D, followed by time trade-off. Studies ranged in publication date from 1991-2019. Mean participant age ranged from 34-55. Average sample size was 124 participants. Meta-analysis results for active, mild, moderate, severe, moderate-severe, postoperative, and remission health states were 0.711, 0.791, 0.626, 0.398, 0.618, 0.878, and 0.844, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

There exists significant variability among reported UC utilities in literature. Geographic location, health state definition, interventions, and population differences contribute to the variability observed in UC utilities. Meta-analysis results align well with severity of health states.