OBJECTIVES: To date, there is no established population norms of EQ-5D-Y in Hong Kong (HK). The purpose of this study was aimed to establish normative data for HK Chinese adolescents using the EQ-5D-Y 3L – a child-friendly version of the widely used EQ-5D-3L preference-based instrument.

METHODS: A face-to-face cross-sectional survey included EQ-5D-Y 3L was conducted using a self-administrated standardized questionnaire among Cantonese-speaking adolescents aged 11-17 years. Participants were recruited at local secondary schools covering different geographical districts in HK. The population norms were included self-reported problems on each of the five dimensions of the EQ-5D descriptive system, values of EQ-VAS and also index values of EQ-5D-Y. Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) is applied to elicit preferences for the index value. The preference-base single health index values were then derived by weighting each respondent’s self-reported health status.

RESULTS: A total of 903 adolescents were recruited with 57% (515/903) were males. The overall mean EQ-VAS score was 76.7 where males reported higher scores than females in all years of age. Extreme problems in worried, sad and unhappy domain were observed among nearly all years (ranked from 9.9% in age 15, 3.1% in age 14, 2.8% in age 16, 2.4% in age 17 and 1.1% in age 13). Extreme problems in pain/discomfort were also observed at older adolescents (2.8% in age 17). The data collection is still ongoing until the recruited samples could represent the local profile of the target population. The index value will be estimated later.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings played an important role in generating values to estimate the population norms in HK adolescent population. The norm values will not only represent the societal preference of HK adolescents which can provides support for resource allocation concerns, but also serves as important reference for comparative purposes with further interventions among adolescent population.