Using a novel concept to measure outcomes in solid organ recipients provided promising results.

Objectives: Efforts to evaluate the health of solid organ transplant recipients are hampered by the lack of adequate patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) targeting this group. We developed the Transplant ePROM (TXP), which is based on a novel measurement model and administered through a mobile application to fill this gap. The main objective of this article is to elucidate how we derived the weights for different items, and to report initial empirical results.

Measurement properties of the EQ-5D across four major geriatric conditions: Findings from TOPICS-MDS.

Background: As populations age, chronic geriatric conditions linked to progressive organ failure jeopardize health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Thus, this research assessed the validity and applicability of the EQ-5D (a common HRQoL instrument) across four major chronic geriatric conditions: hearing issues, joint damage, urinary incontinence, or dizziness with falls.

Methods: The study sample comprised 25,637 community-dwelling persons aged 65 years and older residing in the Netherlands (Data source: TOPICS-MDS, www.

Intestinal rehabilitation for children with intestinal failure is cost-effective: a simulation study.

Background: Children with intestinal failure (IF) depend on parenteral nutrition (PN). The goal in the treatment of IF is to wean children off PN through intestinal rehabilitation (IR). Although the healthcare burden of IF is enormous, to our knowledge there has been no previous cost-effectiveness analysis in pediatric IF including IR.

Fecal Bile Salts and the Development of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Preterm Infants.

Background: Intestinal bile salts (BSs) may be implicated in NEC development. We hypothesized that fecal BS levels are higher in preterm infants at risk for NEC.

Methods: We compared the composition and concentration of fecal BSs in ten preterm infants who developed NEC (Bell's Stage ≥ II) with twenty matched control infants without NEC.

Multivariate Meta-Analysis of Preference-Based Quality of Life Values in Coronary Heart Disease.

Background: There are numerous health-related quality of life (HRQol) measurements used in coronary heart disease (CHD) in the literature. However, only values assessed with preference-based instruments can be directly applied in a cost-utility analysis (CUA).

Objective: To summarize and synthesize instrument-specific preference-based values in CHD and the underlying disease-subgroups, stable angina and post-acute coronary syndrome (post-ACS), for developed countries, while accounting for study-level characteristics, and within- and between-study correlation.

A Simple and Practical Index to Measure Dementia-Related Quality of Life.

Background: Research on new treatments for dementia is gaining pace worldwide in an effort to alleviate this growing health care problem. The optimal evaluation of such interventions, however, calls for a practical and credible patient-reported outcome measure.

Objectives: To describe the refinement of the Dementia Quality-of-life Instrument (DQI) and present its revised version.

Rasch analysis reveals comparative analyses of activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living summary scores from different residential settings is inappropriate.

Objectives: To internally validate a 15-item dichotomous activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) index.

Study Design And Setting: Data were extracted from The Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey Minimum DataSet (TOPICS-MDS). Using Rasch modeling, six aspects of the ADL/IADL scale were assessed: (1) overall fit, (2) internal consistency, (3) individual item and person fit, (4) local dependency, (5) targeting, and (6) differential item functioning (DIF) (RUMM 2030).

Attitudes of Dutch general practitioners towards vaccinating the elderly: less is more?

Background: In many European countries, vaccinations are offered to the elderly. Expanding the programme to include routine vaccination against pneumococcal disease, herpes zoster, and pertussis, for example, could reduce disease burden amongst the growing population of persons aged 50 years and older. Since most countries involve general practitioners (GPs) in the programmes, the potential success of such new vaccinations depends on the attitude of GPs towards these vaccinations.

Utilities of Patients with Hypertension in Northern Vietnam.

Objectives: The study aims to inform potential cost-effectiveness analysis of hypertension management in Vietnam by providing utilities and predictors of utilities in patients with hypertension.

Methods: Hypertensive patients up to 80 years old visiting the hospital were invited to participate in a survey using Quality Metric's Short-form 36v2TM translated into Vietnamese. Health-state utilities were estimated by applying a previously published algorithm.

Do individuals with and without depression value depression differently? And if so, why?

Purpose: Health state valuations, used to evaluate the effectiveness of healthcare interventions, can be obtained either by the patients or by the general population. The general population seems to value somatic conditions more negatively than patients, but little is known about valuations of psychological conditions. This study examined whether individuals with and without depression differ in their valuations of depression and whether perceptions regarding depression (empathy, perceived susceptibility, stigma, illness perceptions) and individual characteristics (mastery, self-compassion, dysfunctional attitudes) bias valuations of either individuals with or without depression.

A Checklist for Reporting Valuation Studies of Multi-Attribute Utility-Based Instruments (CREATE).

Multi-attribute utility-based instruments (MAUIs) assess health status and provide an index score on the full health-dead scale, and are widely used to support reimbursement decisions for new healthcare interventions worldwide. A valuation study is a key part of the development of MAUIs, with the primary goal of developing a scoring algorithm through eliciting societal preferences. We developed the 21-item Checklist for REporting VAluaTion StudiEs (CREATE) by following a modified two-round Delphi panel approach plus an email survey.

Motives of Dutch persons aged 50 years and older to accept vaccination: a qualitative study.

Background: Elderly in several European countries are currently being vaccinated against influenza and pneumococcal disease, and various reasons have been put forward to expand these programs. To successfully immunize the older adult population, however, it is crucial for the target group to accept such interventions. This study aims to elucidate the motives of Dutch persons aged ≥ 50 years for accepting vaccination.

[TOPICS-MDS: a versatile resource for generating scientific and social knowledge for elderly care].

Developed as part of the National Care for the Elderly Programme (NPO), TOPICS-MDS is a uniform, national database on the health and wellbeing of the older persons and caregivers who participated in NPO-funded projects. TOPICS-MDS Consortium has gained extensive experience in constructing a standardized questionnaire to collect relevant health care data on quality of life, health services utilization, and informal care use. A proactive approach has been undertaken not only to ensure the standardization and validation of instruments but also the infrastructure for external data requests.

Cost-effectiveness of intestinal transplantation for adult patients with intestinal failure: a simulation study.

Background: Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) and intestinal transplantation (ITx) are the 2 treatment options for irreversible intestinal failure (IF).

Objective: This study simulated the disease course of irreversible IF and both of these treatments--HPN and ITx--to estimate the cost-effectiveness of ITx.

Design: We simulated IF treatment in adults as a discrete event model with variables derived from the Dutch Registry of Intestinal Failure and Intestinal Transplantation, the Intestinal Transplant Registry, hospital records, the literature, and expert opinions.

Evaluation of health promotion programmes in severe mental illness: theory and practice.

Health promotion programmes for patients with severe mental illness (HPP) are not uniformly evaluated. We discuss the evaluation of HPP in theory and practice, as a prerequisite for future uniform evaluation. We explored the expected outcome and mechanism of HPP in the current literature.

Understanding drug preferences, different perspectives.

Aims: To compare the values regulators attach to different drug effects of oral antidiabetic drugs with those of doctors and patients.

Methods: We administered a 'discrete choice' survey to regulators, doctors and patients with type 2 diabetes in The Netherlands. Eighteen choice sets comparing two hypothetical oral antidiabetic drugs were constructed with varying drug effects on glycated haemoglobin, cardiovascular risk, bodyweight, duration of gastrointestinal complaints, frequency of hypoglycaemia and risk of bladder cancer.

Values for health states with different life durations.

Background: Recent research suggests that the value of health states may depend on their duration, implying a more complex relationship between quality and quantity of life than the standard linear relationship assumed in the quality-adjusted life years (QALY) model.

Objective: This study models how duration affects the value of health states, using discrete choice data.

Methods: A study was conducted comprising health profiles including various durations.

Multinational evidence of the applicability and robustness of discrete choice modeling for deriving EQ-5D-5L health-state values.

Aims: To investigate the feasibility of discrete choice experiments for valuing EQ-5D-5L states using computer-based data collection, the consistency of the estimated regression coefficients produced after modeling the preference data, and to examine the similarity of the values derived across countries.

Methods: Data were collected in Canada, England, The Netherlands, and the United States (US). Interactive software was developed to standardize the format of the choice tasks across countries, except for face-to-face interviewing in England.

A program of methodological research to arrive at the new international EQ-5D-5L valuation protocol.

Objectives: To describe the research that has been undertaken by the EuroQol Group to improve current methods for health state valuation, to summarize the results of an extensive international pilot program, and to outline the key elements of the five-level EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire valuation protocol, which is the culmination of that work.

Methods: To improve on methods of health state valuation for the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire, we investigated the performance of different variants of time trade-off and discrete choice tasks in a multinational setting. We also investigated the effect of three modes of administration on health state valuation: group interviews, online self-completion, and face-to-face interviews.

The bilirubin albumin ratio in the management of hyperbilirubinemia in preterm infants to improve neurodevelopmental outcome: a randomized controlled trial--BARTrial.

Background And Objective: High bilirubin/albumin (B/A) ratios increase the risk of bilirubin neurotoxicity. The B/A ratio may be a valuable measure, in addition to the total serum bilirubin (TSB), in the management of hyperbilirubinemia. We aimed to assess whether the additional use of B/A ratios in the management of hyperbilirubinemia in preterm infants improved neurodevelopmental outcome.

Quantification of health by scaling similarity judgments.

Objective: A new methodology is introduced to scale health states on an interval scale based on similarity responses. It could be well suited for valuation of health states on specific regions of the health continuum that are problematic when applying conventional valuation techniques. These regions are the top-end, bottom-end, and states around 'dead'.

A generalized measurement model to quantify health: the multi-attribute preference response model.

After 40 years of deriving metric values for health status or health-related quality of life, the effective quantification of subjective health outcomes is still a challenge. Here, two of the best measurement tools, the discrete choice and the Rasch model, are combined to create a new model for deriving health values. First, existing techniques to value health states are briefly discussed followed by a reflection on the recent revival of interest in patients' experience with regard to their possible role in health measurement.