Life-years lost due to asthma and COPD

• Background: Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) is commonly used in health-economic evaluations. QALY-weights combine health status and time into one measure.Aims: To investigate the association between multimorbidity and QALY-weights among adults with asthma and COPD.Methods: Within the OLIN-studies in northern Sweden, a random sample was invited to a postal questionnaire survey. A random sample of 1016 responders was invited to clinical examinations and interviews in 2009 (737 participated, ages 21-86 years), of which 605 completed the health-related quality of life (HRQL) questionnaire SF-36. QALY-weights were derived from the SF-36 data using the SF-6D tool via the standard gamble method. The SF-6D scores are equivalent to QALY-weights with low values representing poor health and the score one representing perfect health.Results: Of the 605 participants, 74 had current asthma, 81 had COPD (FEV1/FVC<0.7), 66 had heart disease, 30 had diabetes, 30 had rheumatic disease, and 160 had hypertension. There was an association between an increasing number of morbid conditions and lower QALY-weights (p<0.001). The mean QALY-weight tended to be lower among subjects with asthma compared to COPD, 0.77 and 0.81, respectively (p=0.078). Subjects with COPD and two or more non-respiratory conditions had significantly lower QALY-weights compared to subjects with COPD alone (0.75 vs.0.83, p=0.016). No significant difference in QALY-weights was found among asthmatics with versus without other non-respiratory conditions.Conclusions: Subjects with asthma tended to have lower QALY-weights compared to subjects with COPD. Having two or more non-respiratory conditions affected the QALY-weight negatively among subjects with COPD but not among subjects with asthma.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Lungmedicin och allergi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Respiratory Medicine and Allergy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Quality of life

Asthma

Asthma - diagnosis

Nursing

Omvårdnad

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