Abstract

Objective

To describe general population health related quality of life (HRQOL) in Argentina and perform an Atlas showing the country’s results using data from the first “National Risk Factors Survey” and local social values.

Methods

Secondary cross-sectional study analyzing EQ-5D-3L responses. The variables of interest were self-reported visual analog scale in a 0-1 scale (SR-VAS), as well as time-trade off (TTO) and VAS preference values (PV). PV were assigned using weights derived from a previous local study.

Results

The survey included 41.392 subjects; the expanded population represented 96% of the adult population of Argentina. 8.82% of the population reported excellent health, 24.6% very good, 43.9% good and 22.3% regular or bad. 42.8% reported limitations in at least one of the EQ-5D domain. SR-VAS had a mean of 0.75 (IC95% 0.75-0.76), while general population mean social TTO and VAS based weights were 0.90 (0.898-0.905) and 0.87 (IC95% 0.867–0.874) respectively. The Atlas showed small differences among the provinces.

Conclusions

This is a population based study aimed to describe in depth the HRQOL based in EQ-5D using local PV. It summarizes country level and geographic levels within the country, and constitutes a valuable resource and a starting point for future studies.