Resumo

FERREIRA, Lara  e  FERREIRA, Pedro. The Portuguese SF-6D for measuring preferences: a set of values and norms for individuals aged 18 to 64. Rev. Port. Sau. Pub. [online]. 2011, vol.29, n.2, pp.108-115. ISSN 0870-9025.

Introduction: There has been an increasing interest in the study of the health state valuations across countries. Evidence suggests that health state valuations may differ from country to country. In recent years there has been increasing interest in surveys conducted to obtain value sets for the most used preference-based instruments, such as the EQ-5D, the HUI and the SF-6D. A Portuguese value set for the SF-6D was recently published. However this system weight had some inconsistencies in what concerned the weights of the six dimensions of the SF-6D. The correction of these inconsistencies would improve the value set. This study seeks to present the Portuguese system weight for the SF-6D without inconsistencies. It also aims at providing Portuguese norms for individuals aged 18-64 for the SF-6D. Methods: Inconsistencies were found in some levels of the dimensions of the SF-6D. These levels were aggregated and parsimonious models were estimated through generalized estimating equations. The data used to obtain the Portuguese norms for individuals aged 18-64 came from a random sample of the Portuguese population aged 18-64 (n=2,459). The SF-36v2 was applied to this sample and results from the best parsimonious model were used to obtain the Portuguese norms for individuals aged 18-64. Results: Aggregating levels of each dimension whenever inconsistencies occurred enabled to obtain a Portuguese system weight for the SF-6D. However there are still some problems of under prediction in some states assigned to poor health. The mean utility value obtained for the Portuguese working age population was 0.81 (associated with a standard deviation of 0.12). Portuguese norms for the SF-6D for individuals aged 18-64 were computed by gender, age, marital status and educational level. Lower levels of utilities were observed in women, the elderly, individuals with low educational level, widowed and individuals living in rural areas. Conclusion: This research demonstrates that it is possible to estimate preference weights for measuring health related quality of life. This model improves significantly the results previously presented. There is still evidence of under prediction in some states. The Portuguese norms play an important role in the interpretation of research results.

Palavras-chave : Health-related quality of life preference-based instruments; Portuguese norms; Health-related quality of life; SF-6D; Health state utilities.

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