Centre for Health-Related Research, School of Healthcare Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, UK.
Value Health. 2011 Dec;14(8):1117-29. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2011.07.011. Epub 2011 Oct 22.
EQ-5D is widely used in studies with adults as a source of generic health-related quality of life information and utility weights to inform resource allocation decisions. This methodological systematic review describes the extent to which EQ-5D has been used in the evaluation of children's health care, assesses psychometric properties, and makes recommendations for future good practice.
Systematic searches of databases and the Internet to identify studies published during 2000-2010 that either used EQ-5D with children younger than age 19 years as an outcome measure or reported psychometric data. Study characteristics, including measures and psychometric data, were extracted into tables for analysis.
We identified 29 studies that used four versions of the EQ-5D: adult EQ-5D, EQ-5D-Y, Dutch EQ-5D child, and extended with cognitive dimension, EQ-5D+C. Twelve of 29 studies did not specify the EQ-5D version used. Existing literature lacks detail on the specific use of EQ-5D and its potential effects on findings. Version use and psychometric properties were inadequately reported. There are large gaps in current knowledge of psychometric properties across all versions when used with children.
For reasons of comparability with resource use across adult and children's services, there are arguments for continued use of EQ-5D in studies with children. We recommend use of EQ-5D alongside children-specific quality of life measures and disease-specific measures. Researchers are encouraged to undertake methodological and philosophical analyses to better understand and improve evidence as to how adults who make decisions about resource allocation can best take account of children in decision making.
EQ-5D 在成人研究中被广泛用作通用健康相关生活质量信息和效用权重的来源，以告知资源分配决策。本方法学系统评价描述了 EQ-5D 在儿童医疗保健评估中的使用程度，评估心理测量学特性，并为未来的良好实践提供建议。
系统搜索数据库和互联网，以确定在 2000-2010 年期间发表的研究，这些研究要么使用 EQ-5D 作为 19 岁以下儿童的结果测量，要么报告心理测量学数据。研究特征，包括测量和心理测量学数据，被提取到表格中进行分析。
我们确定了 29 项研究，这些研究使用了 EQ-5D 的四个版本：成人 EQ-5D、EQ-5D-Y、荷兰 EQ-5D 儿童版和扩展的认知维度版 EQ-5D+C。29 项研究中有 12 项未具体说明使用的 EQ-5D 版本。现有文献缺乏关于 EQ-5D 的具体使用及其对研究结果潜在影响的详细信息。版本使用和心理测量学特性的报告不充分。当用于儿童时，所有版本的心理测量学特性的当前知识都存在很大差距。
由于与成人和儿童服务的资源使用具有可比性，因此在儿童研究中继续使用 EQ-5D 具有一定的合理性。我们建议在使用 EQ-5D 的同时，还应使用针对儿童的生活质量测量和疾病特异性测量。鼓励研究人员进行方法学和哲学分析，以更好地理解和提高有关资源分配决策中如何最好地考虑儿童的证据。
