OBJECTIVES: Economic models require a baseline utility profile to assess the number of quality adjusted life years (QALY) gained from an intervention.  The baseline needed could be obtained from individuals without a specific health condition, depending on the definition of the health condition in the model. We explored whether utilities from the general population are suitable as proxy measures when condition specific data are not available. METHODS: Pooling data from four consecutive rounds of the Health Survey for England (n=41,000) and using sub-groups stratified by self-reported health conditions, we compared mean utility scores (EQ-5D) for groups without specific conditions (i.e. the preferred baseline profile) with the mean scores from similar aged cohorts of the general population (i.e. the proxy baseline profile). RESULTS: We found the average utility scores from the general population were good approximations for some conditions (e.g. cancer) but not all (e.g. complaints of teeth/mouth).  For cohorts who have just one single condition, data from the general population who report they do not have any of the prevalent conditions could be used to approximate the baseline.   CONCLUSIONS: We present a number of health condition and age-stratified preference-based utility values that could be used to assess the QALY gain compared to the average person who does not have that condition.  We also provide age stratified data from the general population that could be used to approximate baseline preference-based utility scores when condition specific data are not available.