PURPOSE

: To present the rationale for developing a new QALY measure that goes beyond health to better reflect the impact of treatments on quality of life, to share findings from international research used in the development of the measure, and to discuss a future research agenda

DESCRIPTION

: Quality adjusted life years (QALYs) provide a way to capture benefits in terms of survival and health related quality of life. However, the ageing population has led to a change in the epidemiology of illness towards long term conditions. This means it is no longer appropriate to assess just the health benefits of interventions. The international Extending-QALY (E-QALY) project aims to develop a broader measure of quality of life. The project began in the UK, but the global nature of HTA means that any new measure needs to be relevant internationally. The project includes six countries (Argentina, Australia, China, Germany, UK, USA). Face validation work was conducted to investigate the relevance of item content, and the wording used, across countries, as well as translation issues. This led to an initial pool of 62 items covering 26 sub-domains that were psychometrically tested in patient and carer samples. The results informed the development of two measures – a long form with 25 items, and a classifier with 9 items that will be valued to develop the EQALY measure. JB will describe the rationale and provide an overview. FA will consider the challenges of developing instruments with international relevance. BM will present results from the psychometric phase. SP will explore the implications for developing a new measure that meets the need of industry/policy makers. The presentations each last 10 minutes to allow sufficient time for audience interaction. The workshop is interest to health care reimbursement agencies, industry and patient groups interested in ensuring QoL benefits are appropriately measured.