Health Economics Letters

Mapping between Visual Analogue Scale and Standard Gamble data; results from the UK Health Utilities Index 2 valuation survey

  1. Katherine J. Stevens1,*,
  2. Christopher J. McCabe1,2,
  3. John E. Brazier1

Article first published online: 3 JAN 2006

DOI: 10.1002/hec.1076

Issue

Health Economics

Health Economics

Volume 15, Issue 5, pages 527–533, May 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Stevens, K. J., McCabe, C. J. and Brazier, J. E. (2006), Mapping between Visual Analogue Scale and Standard Gamble data; results from the UK Health Utilities Index 2 valuation survey. Health Econ., 15: 527–533. doi: 10.1002/hec.1076

Author Information

  1. 1

    Health Economics and Decision Science, ScHARR, University of Sheffield, UK

  2. 2

    Trent Research Development and Support Unit, ScHARR, University of Sheffield, UK

*ScHARR, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 30 Regent Street, Sheffield S1 4DA, UK

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 10 APR 2006
  2. Article first published online: 3 JAN 2006
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 21 OCT 2005
  4. Manuscript Received: 1 DEC 2003

Funded by

  • UK Medical Research Council. Grant Number: G9900013

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Keywords:

  • Health Utilities Index;
  • health state valuation;
  • Visual Analogue Scale;
  • Standard Gamble;
  • mapping

Abstract

We examine the relationship between Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Standard Gamble (SG) assumed in the development of the multiplicative multi-attribute utility functions (M-MAUFs) for the Health Utilities Index (HUI) Mark 2 and Mark 3, using data from a UK valuation study of the HUI2. A range of functional forms are considered, and are compared on the basis of their explanatory power and predictive ability.

A restricted cubic function fits the data better than a power curve with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.025 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.029 compared to a MAE of 0.135 and RMSE of 0.135 for the power curve. The use of a cubic mapping function instead of a power function leads to different predicted health state values.

We question the reliance on the assumption of a power curve relationship between VAS and SG data, in the Health Utilities Index valuation framework. Our results demonstrate that further work is required to examine the appropriateness of the published M-MAUFs for the Health Utilities Indices. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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