The aim of this study was to assess and analyze the utility values for Heart Failure (HF) using different generic health status instruments in the Korean general population.

METHODS:

Through literature review and interview with cardiologists, 5 health statuses of HF were developed: Stable Chronic Heart Failure (SCHF), hospitalization due to acute exacerbation, SCHF+cough, SCHF+hypotention and SCHF+hyperkalemia. To elicit the utility values for HF, face-to-face interviews were carried out for 100 people selected from the general population through proportional allocation by age and gender. The utility values for HF were assessed using VAS, TTO and EQ-5D-5L. Repeated Measure Analysis of Variance (RMANOVA) was conducted to compare the utility values among all instruments, and Pearson’s correlation coefficients between instruments were measured. Moreover, t-test was used to estimate the utility values according to age and gender for each instruments.

RESULTS:

The utility values for SCHF measured by VAS, TTO and EQ-5D-5L were 0.626 (±0.09), 0.815 (±0.10) and 0.871 (±0.09), respectively. The utility values decreased in the order of SCHF, SCHF+cough, SCHF+hypotention, SCHF+hyperkalemia and hospitalization for all instruments. The EQ-5D-5L showed the highest utility values for all health statuses except for hospitalization. For hospitalization, EQ-5D-5L presented the lowest utility value. However, utility values assessed using TTO were consistently higher than those using VAS for all health statuses. The utility values for 5 health statuses differed among VAS, TTO and EQ-5D-5L with statistical significance (p<0.001). VAS and EQ-5D-5L showed positive correlation with statistical significance for all health statuses except for SCHF+hyperkalemia. There was no significant difference between utility values in age (19-39 vs 40-59) and gender (male ve female) for each instrument.

CONCLUSIONS:

This study has shown the similar tendency with previous studies in comparing utility values for HF between VAS and TTO (TTO>VAS). Although some limitations exist, the current study holds significance in being the first study to present the utilities for HF and compare them among different instruments in the Korean general population.